Siberian BAM Railway Guidebook

[KAREN RONDESTVEDT]

If we are going to be developing a policy for book announcements on SEELANGS, I
would like to register a vote for INCLUDING both a price and ordering informa-
tion, especially if the book is published by an organization other than a
university press or trade publisher. As a librarian who orders about 4500 books
per year, I find it rather annoying to read a tantalizing announcement which
contains minimal information that would be useful for ordering it and ends with
"for more information, please contact...." I don't have time to write for more
information for the number of books involved, along with everything else I'm
supposed to be doing. Such an announcment goes on a pile of things to do, and
I may or may not get around to writing. Including a price and ordering infor-
mation, to my mind, does not by itself constitute an overly commercial message.

I suspect these feelings are shared by at least my librarian colleagues on
SEELANGS--although perhaps I'll find out differently as a result of this mes-
sage!

Karen Rondestvedt
Slavic Bibliographer, University of Pittsburgh Library System
rondest at vms.cis.pitt.edu