Former library patrons are instructed to contact

[samiaseo222]

Gaining access to an updated version of Global Books In Print is becoming an unexpectedly difficult process, at times like a scene from Orwell’s 1984. I had been told by a university reference librarian, and then by her superior, that the Global BIP was unavailable because the server on which it was installed happened to be out of service, and the University library’s copy of the Global BIP CD had disappeared. Some weeks later, I contacted the University library and asked if their server was back up; they responded that it was working, but that they no longer subscribed to Global Books In Print and could therefore be of no assistance. Anyone associated with the academic community should understand how rapidly they are losing the respect of those looking for truth in all the wrong places.


Bowker’s BooksinPrint site on the Internet and make their own arrangements. First of all, Global Books In Print is essential for any institution that orders many books, especially a university library. An job function email list online subscription to Bowker’s BooksinPrint is expensive: the cost per year for a single user is $1,850; with reviews, the price is $2,500. One may be able to use it a few times for free at the Bowker’s site on the Internet, but one must register first. Like so many people, I am not eager to fill-out confidential forms on the Internet. If I did not care to do that, the librarian suggested that it may then be best to simply use Amazon.com instead. As shall become evident, our automated society often spends more energy concealing information than disclosing it.

So I turned to the public library, and visited three different branches. At one, I used a public access computer which included what I believed to be an updated version of Global Books In Print. According to this source, Gordon Press had a listing of 6774 titles -- a slight increase since I last closely examined this publisher about a year ago. This was not entirely surprising since I had noted in mid-1998 that only four new entries were added that year. There was some confusion about whether or not the Global BIP available in computers for public use had been updated.