ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

PUBLICATIONS

• California Legal History Manuscripts in the Huntington Library:A Guide,preparedby the Committee on History of Law in California of the State Bar of California (233 pages, July 1989), represents the culmination of work begun in 1984 when Gordon Bakken began the task of cataloging the Huntington’s legal history special collections. The guide has two major parts: a subject access guide that refers to individual documents and sets of documents by topic; and a description of collections of interest to legal historians. The manuscripts described are primarily from the 19th century and involve real estate, agriculture, and such industries as mining, oil, and commerce. Copies are available for $35.00, plus $2.00 handling, from Huntington Library Publications, Department C, 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, CA91108. California residents add $2.28 sales tax per book. ISBN 0-87328-099-7.

• Campus Trends, 1989, by Elaine El-Khawas(48 pages, July 1989), has been published as Higher Education Panel Report no. 78 by the American Council on Education. This is the sixth in an annual series of ACE surveys of academic and administrative practices of American colleges and universities. In this report, special attention was given to campus faculty and activities to improve minority participation in higher education. Tables show patterns of faculty hiring, current and expected shortages of faculty by subject area, the current status of student assessment, and changes in enrollment. Copies are available for $5.00 (ACE members) or $8.00 (non-ACE members) from the Division of Policy Analysis and Research, American Council on Education, One Dupont Circle, N.W., Washington, DC 20036-1193.

• PC USA, released in August by PC Globe,Inc., is a unique, PC-based software package that combines maps, graphics, and statistics to give users an instant profile of all 50 states and Puerto Rico. With PC USA installed at the reference desk, staff or students can find data on population, ethnic groups, births, deaths, divorces, hospital beds, dentists, pharmacists, elementary schools, colleges and universities, crime, natural resources, agriculture, gross state product, average annual pay by industry, state sales tax, corporate and personal income tax, state revenues and expenditures, motor vehicle registration, public road mileage, gasohol consumption, government, history, and tourist attractions. The program is very easy to learn and works well both with or without a mouse. Other endearing features of this program are its ability to calculate the distance and bearings between any two cities, compare time zones across the country, find the location of any five-digit zip code or threedigit area code, and instantly show U. S. maps colorcoded to the statistic you are interested in. State maps are also available that display populated places, features, and elevations. The program has the ability to export data to an ASCII or Lotus 1-2- 3 file and export graphics to a .PCX file readable by most graphics or desktop publishing packages. It requires a minimum of 5l2K RAM and supports Hercules monochrome, CGA, EGA and VGA displays for IBM PC/XT/AT/PS2 or compatibles. Macintosh and Apple II versions are now under development. The suggested retail price is $69.95; annual upgrades are available at a minimal cost. Contact PC Globe, Inc., 4435 S. Rural Rd., Building 5, Suite 3, Tempe, AZ 85282, (800) 255-2789, for more information.

A companion program, PC-Globe+, released earlier this year, provides similar statistics for every country in the world. For example, you can compare the literacy rate in Namibiawith the 10 countries with the highest rate, or the number of nurses per person in Uruguay with the number in Czechoslovakia. The maps are excellent and especially detailed for some of the smaller countries, which often get glossed over in even the best printed atlases. The suggested retail price is the same as for PC USA.

• Retrospective Conversion: APractical Guide for Libraries, by Jane Beaumont and Joseph P. Cox (198 pages, August 1989), provides information about converting a card catalog to machinereadable form for use with a computerized, automated library system. The book provides essential information for organizing a RECON project, creating or obtaining appropriate machine-readable records, and establishing ongoing procedures for online cataloging. Four appendices provide a comparative chart of RECON services, a directory of firms and organizations providing MARC records and RECON services, sample worksheets, and a selected bibliography. The guide may be ordered for $35.00 from Meckler Corporation, 11 Ferry Lane West, Westport, CT 06880. ISBN 0- 911259-25-2.

• Sex Discrimination in Higher Education and the Professions: An Annotated Bibliography, by Mary Donovan (32 pages, 1989), consists of 124 annotated citations to monographs and articles that appeared in 1984-1988. Court cases and items from the popular press are excluded. Four major categories are identified (compensation/ pension, hiring practices, promotion, and work environment) and library literature is well represented. Copies are available for $10.00 from the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions, 17 Lexington Ave., P.O. Box 322, New York, NY 10010. ISBN 0-911259-25-2.

• Sources in Electrical History: Archives

and Manuscript Collections in U.S. Repositories, compiled by Joyce E. Bedi, RonaldR. Kline, and Craig Semsel (234 pages, 1989), lists 1,008 collections in 158 repositories, primarily university archives and state historical societies. This volume is the first in a series that promotes research in electrical history by making scholars aware of the diverse collections of primary sources and by encouraging the collection and preservation of these materials by archives and manuscript repositories. Subject and repository indexes are provided. The book is available for $15.00 (prepaid) from the Center for the History of Electrical Engineering, IEEE, 354 E. 47th St., New York, NY 10017.

• Telecommunicationsfor Information Spe- cialists, by Larry L. Learn (165 pages, June 1989), covers such topics as regulation, networks and network technology, the telecommunications infrastructure, recent developments in public networks, and future network strategies. The book has a substantial glossary of telecommunications terms and acronyms as well as a comprehensive bibliography and index. A study guide assists readers to further their understanding of the material presented. Ifyou always wondered what was involved in multiplexing, inside wiring deregulation, or short-haul transmission devices, this is the book for you. The cost is $15.00 (specify product code 8080). Non-members of OCLC must prepay and send orders to OCLC, Dept. 630, Box ONB, Columbus, OH 43265. ISBN 1-55653-075-7.