Path: bloom-beacon.mit.edu!gatech!pirates!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!MathWorks.Com!yeshua.marcam.com!zip.eecs.umich.edu!amazon.eecs.umich.edu!khushro From: khushro@eecs.umich.edu (Khushro Shahookar) Newsgroups: misc.books.technical,misc.answers,news.answers Subject: misc.books.technical FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (Periodic post) Followup-To: misc.books.technical Date: 29 Mar 1994 08:12:52 GMT Organization: University of Michigan EECS Dept. Lines: 398 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu Message-ID: <2n8nu4$4j8@zip.eecs.umich.edu> Reply-To: khushro@eecs.umich.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: amazon.eecs.umich.edu Summary: Frequently asked questions (with answers) Keywords: FAQ Originator: khushro@amazon.eecs.umich.edu Xref: bloom-beacon.mit.edu misc.books.technical:3336 misc.answers:518 news.answers:16982 Archive-name: books/technical Last-modified: 1994/03/01 For any additions/corrections email khushro@eecs.umich.edu. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 1) Where can I find currently published books? 2) Where can I find out-of-print books? 3) How can I access On-line university catalogs and the Library of Congress catalog through internet? 4) Addresses/phone numbers of publishers 5) Email addresses / phone numbers of technical bookstores 6) What is the ISSN? -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Where can I find currently published books? The United States's most complete bookstore is the combination of BOOKS IN PRINT and the U. S. Post Office. BIP will tell you the price and the publisher's address. Send them a check for the price and they will be happy to send you the book. We do it all the time. Some publishers grudgingly send a note with the book saying "Next time please include N% for postage and handling," but that is unusual. Nobody has ever refused to send the book and at least once they sent a check with the book because if ordered direct, they gave a discount. We rarely order through a bookstore because it is so much easier to order the book and have it sent to us directly. (This is probably not true for mass-market paperbacks where the handling charges would be more than the book!) What is BOOKS IN PRINT? Just about every public library and every bookstore in the country has, for public use, a multi-volume reference work called "Books in Print." It is just about what the title claims it is. It is a listing by title, by author, and by subject of every book currently listed by publishers as being currently in print in the United States. (There may be editions for other countries as well.) It tells you the list price and the publisher. It also has a volume of out-of-print books and a separate volume that lists the mailing addresses of the publishers. The local B. Dalton keeps it at the information desk. Almost any bookstore or public library will have a set that they would be happy to have you look at. There is a similar reference set called "Paperback Books in Print." I am not sure what it would list that would not be listed in its bigger cousin, but that reference might also be of interest. In Britain, there is "British Books in Print." Credits: Mark Leeper ------------------------------------------- 2) Where can I find out-of-print books? If you just want to borrow it, ask your library about inter-library loans--chances are good they can find it for you in a library they have reciprocal agreements with even if they don't have it themselves. For used books, there is BOOKMAN'S, the used book trade magazine. Lots of books are advertised there that haven't been in print for decades. You may be able to find the annual bound copy of BOOKMAN'S PRICE INDEX (the used book dealer's pricing bible) in your local library. There's no guarantee that the book you want will still be for sale if you go that way, but it is a good way to plan your budget. Most used book stores participate in an informal network (not a computer network) of clearinghouses on information about used books. It is usually possible within a few days to locate copies of used books with indications of their condition. The service usually costs between nothing and two dollars a book. A few professional book finder services are listed below: Books by Modem (Service connecting Readers to Dealers) Boston, MA 617-923-4990 (modem) 617-923-4991 (voice) C. Dickens Lenox Square Mall 3393 Peachtree Road Atlanta, GA 30326 USA 1-800-548-0376 (voice) 404-364-0713 (fax) Search fee: US$3.00 per book (January 1994 status) Knollwood Books PO Box 197 Oregon, WI 53575-0197 608-835-8861 (voice) Lincoln Book Search PO Box 5 Foster, RI 02825 USA 1-800-292-8969 (voice) 401-647-2825 (fax) Search fee: US$3.50 per book (January 1994 status) Powell's Technical Bookstore 33 North West Park Portland, Oregon, 97209 USA 1-800-225-6911 (voice, Technical Bookstore) 503-228-0505 (fax, Technical Bookstore) 1-800-878-7323 extension 217 (voice, Out of Print Department) 503-228-4631 (fax, Out of Print Department) Search fee: US$2.00 per book (January 1994 status) Robert Shaw 150 W 26th St. #810 New York, NY 10001-6813 Send a large SASE Trans-Orbital Resources 1637 E. Valley Parkway Box 177 Escondido, CA 92027 Send a self addressed stamped envelope (SASE) One way of getting out-of-print titles is to get in touch with University Microfilms, Inc. (or other such companies). They'll print a copy of a book from microfilm, generally within 3 weeks of your order. They take care of the copyright issues & royalty payments, and you get the book (although the printing quality is what you'd expect for a photoreprint from microfilm). They're a standard resource for librarians. A 106-page book was recently quoted as US$30.00, with a US$6.00 surcharge for cloth binding. (The default is paperbound). And of course, not all books are available for reprinting--they've obviously specialized in academic books. University Microfilms, Inc. 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48106 313-761-4700 800-521-0600 800-343-5299 (works in Canada) As a last resort, out of print US Government literature may be requested from microfiche copy from the NTIS. Considering the source media is microfiche, these can be fairly good quality reproductions. This method can be expensive (NTIS does not publish a rate table, but a fair starting guess is US$0.10/page). The NTIS will offer discounts for orders of multiple copies (i.e. 25% for 5 or more). National Technical Information Service (NTIS) US Department of Commerce 5285 Port Royal Road Springfield, VA 22161 703-487-4650 (8:30AM - 5:00PM EST) Credits: Al Whaley, Mark Leeper, gregb@oclflt ------------------------------------------- 3) How can I access On-line university catalogs and the Library of Congress catalog through internet? The lists of online library catalogs are available for anonymous ftp on ftp.unt.edu, in directory library. Read the aaareadme.txt file for an index. The file you probably need is libraries.txt or libraries.ps One extensive university catalog: The University of California MELVYL Catalog melvyl.ucop.edu or 31.1.0.1, 31.0.0.11, 31.0.0.13, 31.1.0.11 for journals and books. The Library of Congress catalog is dra.com or 192.65.218.43 I have heard it is not comprehensive, and not as big as MELVYL. Credits: Yoshiyasu Takefuji ----------------------------------------- 4) Addresses/phone numbers of publishers Cambridge University Press GBR: The Edinbourgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 2RU, GBR. HongKong: P. O. Box No. 98629, Tsim Sha Tsui Post Office, Hong Kong. USA: Cambridge University Press, 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211 Phone: toll-free 800-872-7423 The MIT Press 55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA 02142 Phone orders: (800) 356-0343 -or- (617) 625-8569 Customer service: (617) 625-8481 E-mail orders: mitpress-orders@mit.edu E-mail inquiries: mitpress-order-inq@mit.edu Catalogue requests: mitpress-catalogs@mit.edu European office: The MIT Press, Ltd. 14 Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A 2LP, U.K. Tel: (071) 404 0712 Fax: (071) 404 0601 MORGAN KAUFMANN PUBLISHERS, INC. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 340 Pine Street, San Francisco, CA 94104 Phone: 800-745-7323, 415-392-2665, Fax: 415-982-2665 (BOOK) email: morgan@unix.sri.com PRENTICE HALL USA: Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ Phone: (800) 526-0485 email: books@prenhall.com(Internet) catalogs@prenhall.com Japan: Phone: (81) 3-238-1050 Kluwer Academic Publishers USA: Kluwer Academic Publishers Order Department, P.O. Box 358 Accord Station, Hingham, MA 02018-0358 Credit Card Customers call: (617)871-6600 Fast Convenient Service: Fax (617)871-6528 or Email:kluwer@world.std.com Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. USA: ADDISON-WESLEY PUBLISHING COMPANY, JACOB WAY, READING, MA 01867 617-944-3700, FAX 617-944-7273 (CORPORATE & PROFESSIONAL) Editorial inquiries: {JohnW, KateH, SimonY, JennJ}@aw.com Marketing/Publicity inquiries: {KimD, PradeepS}@aw.com and Book orders: BExpress@aw.com (someone will contact requestor for credit info, please _do_not_ send credit info over the net.) BENJAMIN/CUMMINGS PUBLISHING COMPANY, 390 BRIDGE PARKWAY, REDWOOD CITY, CA 94065-1522. 415-594-4400, FAX 415-594-4488 GENERAL USE Argentina: ADDISON-WESLEY IBEROAMERICANA, BILLINGHURST 897 PB-A, BUENOS AIRES 1174, ARGENTINA 54/1/865 3384, TELEX 033 24670 MARINE AR, FAX 54/1/805-5625 Australia: ADDISON-WESLEY PUBLISHERS, PTY. LTD., 6 BYFIELD STREET, NORTH RYDE, N.S.W. 2113, AUSTRALIA. Tel. 61/2/878/5411, TELEX 790 71919, CABLE ADIWES SYDNEY, FAX 61/2/878-5830 (GENERAL USE) Brazil: ADDISON-WESLEY IBERAMERICANA, S.A., SOUTH AMERICA, AVE. BRIGADEIRO LUIZ ANTONIO 2344, CONJUNTO 114, 01402 SAO PAULO S.P., BRAZIL Tel. 55/11/283-0035, TELEX 391 1125506 LFC, FAX 55/11/284-1683 Canada: ADDISON-WESLEY PUBLISHERS LTD., 26 PRINCE ANDREW PLACE, PO BOX 580 DON MILLS, ONTARIO M3C 2T8 CANADA 416/447-5101, TELEX 986 743, FAX 416/443-0948 England: ADDISON-WESLEY EUROPEAN/PACIFIC PUBLISHING GROUP, Finchampstead Road, Wokingham, Berkshire RG11 2NZ, ENGLAND 44/734/794-000, telex: 851 846 136, Cable: ADIWES WOKINGHAM, Fax: 44/734/794-035 General France: EDITIONS ADDISON-WESLEY FRANCE, 41, Rue de Turbigo, 75003 Paris, FRANCE, Tel: 33/1/4887/9797, Fax: 33/1/4887/9799 Germany: ADDISON-WESLEY VERLAG GmbH, Wachsbleiche 7-12, 5300 BONN 1, GERMANY Tel: 49/228/69 40 46, 47, 48, 49, Fax: 49/228/69 40 40 Italy: Addison-Wesley Masson SpA, Via Stututo, 2/4, 20121 Milan, ITALY Tel: 39/2/636/7431,7432, 7433, Fax: 39/2/636/7442 Japan: ADDISON-WESLEY PUBLISHERS JAPAN LTD., 1-2-2, Sarugakucho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101, JAPAN, Tel: 81/33/291-4581, Telex: 781 33239 AW TOKYO, Fax: 81/33/291-4592, Cable: ADIWES TANASHI, Jordan: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., P.O. Box 830410 Zahran, Amman, JORDAN Tel: 962/6/699 119, Telex: 22262 TRV SRV JO, Fax: 962/6/648517 Korea: ADDISON-WESLEY PUBLISHING CO., Sam Ma Building, 3rd Floor, 403-16 Seo Kyo Dong, Mapo-Ku, Seoul, 121-210, KOREA Tel: 82/2/335/7987, Fax: 82/2/335/7988 Mexico: ADDISON-WESLEY IBEROAMERICANA, S.A., Boulevard de las Cataratas No.3, Colonia Jardines del Pedregal, 01900 Mexico D.F., MEXICO Tel: 525/660-2695, Telex: 383 1771 410, Fax: 525/660-4930 Netherlands: ADDISON-WESLEY EUROPEAN AND PACIFIC PUBLISHING GROUP, Concertebouwplein 25, 1071 LM Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS Tel: 31/20/671 72 96, Fax: 31/20/664 53 34 Singapore: ADDISON-WESLEY SINGAPORE PTE.LTD, 15 Beach Road, 05-02/09/10 Beach Centre, 0718, SINGAPORE. Tel: 65/339-7503, Telex: RS 20904 ADWES, Fax: 65/339-9707 Spain: ADDISON-WESLEY IBEROAMERICANA, ESPANA S.A., Espalter 3, Bajo, Madrid 28014, (ESPANA) SPAIN, Tel: 34/1/429 2910, 429 2961, Fax: 34/1/369 3918 Taiwan: ADDISON-WESLEY PUBLISHING COMPANY, 88 Suite 7-2, Sin-Sheng South Road, Sec. 3 Taipei, TAIWAN R.O.C. Tel: 886/2/363/2145, Fax: 886/2/363/1811 Springer Verlag Japan: Springer Verlag Phone: 03-3812-0331 3-30-10, Hongou, Bunkyou-ku, TOKYO Oxford University Press Japan: Oxford University Press Phone: 03-5995-3901 2-4-8, Kaname, Toshima-ku, TOKYO Routledge, Chapman & Hall USA: Routledge, Chapman & Hall, 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001-2291 O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. 103A Morris Street, Sebastopol, CA 95472 (707)829-0515, 800-998-9938 in the US and Canada, FAX 707-829-0104 Questions about prices and ordering: nuts@ora.com Questions or comments about technical content: bookquestions@ora.com Subscribe to the O'Reilly e-mail mailing list: book-info-request@ora.com SSC, Seattle, WA, 206-367-8649, FAX: 206-527-2806, sales@ssc.com Credits: Osamu Saito, Teresa A. Ehling. -------------------------------------------------------------- 5) Email addresses / phone numbers of technical bookstores (just in case your city doesn't have a good bookstore) Name, city, state, phone, Fax (if available), email (if available) Computer Literacy Bookshop, San Jose, CA, 408-435-5017, Fax: 408-435-1823, orders@clbooks.com, service@clbooks.com, info@clbooks.com Quantum Books, Cambridge, MA, 617-494-5042, Fax: 617-577-7282 quanbook@world.std.com Total Information, Rochester, NY, 800-876-4636 Softpro, Burlington, MA, 617-2730-2917, Fax: 617-273-2499, softpro@world.std.com TECHbooks Beaverton, OR, bip@techbook.com (send the word "help" in the subject line) OPAMP Technical Books, Los Angeles, CA, 800-468-4322 Stanford University Bookstore, bookstore@sierra.stanford.edu Powell's Technical bookstore, Portland, OR, 1-800-225-6911 Book Scientific, New York, NY, 800-621-1220 Trojan Bookstore (one of the best w/ great tech book selection!) University of Southern California, University Park, Los Angeles, CA 90089, (213) 740-BOOK[2665] Mail order bookstore for Europe and Middle East: Open Windows (UNIX Book Service), 35 Bermuda Terrace, Cambridge CB4 3LD, England. Phone: +44 223 313273 [UK: 0223-313273] Fax: +44 223 461391 [UK: 0223-461391] Email enquiries to JLD1@cus.cam.ac.uk will be passed on to the bookstore. Technical Book Company, 2056 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025 voice: 310 475-5711 fax: 310 470-9810 San Diego Technical Books, 4698 Convoy St, San Diego, CA 92111 voice: 619 279-4990 fax: 619 279-5088 Toronto Computer Books (tcb@io.org) 521 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario M4Y 1Y4 Telephone: (416) 925-2088 Fax: (416) 925-3471 Cucumber Information Services, Inc. Unix/C/INTERNET Mail Order Books 497 South Stonestreet Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 20850 Phone: 800-223-8649 (UNIX), 301-251-8649 (UNIX) Fax: 301-251-0069 orders@cucumber.com, catalog@cucumber.com, info@cucumber.com Credits: J.L. Dawson, Monty Solomon, Tom Rubinstein, Martha Anderson, etc. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 6) What is the ISSN? The format of an ISSN is nnnn-nnnc, where c is a check digit. The ISSN is a sequentially computer generated number, which has no publisher link as with ISBNs. A serial is assigned the next number to come up in the sequence regardless of publisher. In the U.S. they are allocated by the Library of Congress, the same department that registers copyrights. In the UK, the people responsible are The British Library at Boston Spa - The British Library, ISSN UK CENTRE, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire, LS23 7BQ, UK. Tel: 0937 546958/59 Fax: 0937 546979 Tlx: 557381 Credits: Adrian Wontroba, John R Levine