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From ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/books/technical

Reformatted. Note in square brackets: [ and ]. Many things will be woefully out of date, as only a little research has been done on actual references.

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From: rathinam at worf.netins.net (Sethu R Rathinam)
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Subject: misc.books.technical Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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Archive-name: books/technical
Last-modified: Aug 1, 1995

For any additions/corrections email rathinam at worf.infonet.net

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.” [from R.R. Bowker] 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.” [No reference found] 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.” [No reference found]

Credits:
Mark Leeper

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 ∞

Books by Modem
(Service connecting Readers to Dealers)
Boston, MA
Modem: 617-923-4990
Tel: 617-923-4991

C. Dickens
Lenox Square Mall, 3393 Peachtree Road, Atlanta, GA 30326 USA
Tel: 1-800-548-0376
Fax: 404-364-0713
Search fee: US$3.00 per book (January 1994 status)

Knollwood Books
PO Box 197, Oregon, WI 53575-0197
Tel: 608-835-8861

Lincoln Book Search
PO Box 5, Foster, RI 02825 USA
Tel: 1-800-292-8969
Fax: 401-647-2825
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 self-addressed stamped envelope)

Trans-Orbital Resources
1637 E. Valley Parkway, Box 177, Escondido, CA 92027
Send a self-addressed stamped envelope

Hoffman Research Services
Ralph Hoffman (Owner-Manager)
PO Box 342, Rillton, PA 15678
Tel: 412-446-3374
Email: hoffsearch at aol.com
(no search fee)

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 (default is paperbound) – another example of the pricing is a 1970 book, currently out of print, about 350 pages, quoted at $150 – so be sure to check with the company. 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 at oclflt

How can I access On-line university catalogs and the Library of Congress catalog through internet? ∞

(Library of Congress)

The lists of online library catalogs are available for anonymous ftp on ftp.unt.edu, in the directory library. Read the aaareadme.txt file for an index. The file you probably need is libraries.txt or libraries.ps. From this list, you can get the directions for accessing the on-line catalog of the university nearest you.

One extensive university catalog accessible by telnet:

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

Addresses/phone numbers of publishers ∞

Credits:
Osamu Saito, Teresa A. Ehling.

Cambridge University Press ∞

https://www.cambridge.org/

Great Britain:
The Edinbourgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 2RU, GBR

Hong Kong:
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
Tel: 800-872-7423

The MIT Press ∞

https://web.mit.edu/

55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone orders: 617-625-8569, 800-356-0343
Customer service: 617-625-8481
E-mail orders: mitpress-orders at mit.edu
E-mail inquiries: mitpress-order-inq at mit.edu
Catalogue requests: mitpress-catalogs at 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. ∞

340 Pine Street, San Francisco, CA 94104
Tel: 800-745-7323, 415-392-2665
Fax: 415-982-2665 (BOOK)
email: mkp at mkp.com

PRENTICE HALL ∞

USA:
Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Tel: 800-526-0485
email: books at prenhall.com(Internet)
catalogs at prenhall.com

Japan:
Tel: (81) 3-238-1050

Library Solutions Institute and Press ∞

(A publisher of internet learning and training books. The web space contains complete descriptions of the books and an order form. There is an automatic 5% discount for web orders.)

URL unknown [ 1 ]
2137 Oregon Street, Berkeley, CA 94705
email: library at internet-is.com
Tel: 510-841-2636
Fax: 510-841-2926

Kluwer Academic Publishers ∞

USA:
Kluwer Academic Publishers
Order Department, P.O. Box 358 Accord Station, Hingham, MA 02018-0358
Tel: 617-871-6600 (credit card customers)
Fax: 617-871-6528
email: kluwer at world.std.com

Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. ∞

USA:
ADDISON-WESLEY PUBLISHING COMPANY, JACOB WAY, READING, MA 01867
Tel: 617-944-3700
Fax: 617-944-7273 (Corporate & Professional)
Editorial inquiries: {JohnW, KateH, SimonY, JennJ} at aw.com
Marketing/Publicity inquiries: {KimD, PradeepS} at at aw.com
Book orders: BExpress at 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
Tel: 415-594-4400
Fax: 415-594-4488

Argentina:
ADDISON-WESLEY IBEROAMERICANA
BILLINGHURST 897 PB-A, BUENOS, AIRES 1174, ARGENTINA, 54/1/865 3384
Tel: 54/1/805-5625
Telex: 033 24670 MARINE AR

Australia:
ADDISON-WESLEY PUBLISHERS, PTY. LTD.
6 BYFIELD STREET, NORTH, RYDE, N.S.W. 2113, AUSTRALIA.
Tel: 61/2/878/5411
Fax: 61/2/878-5830
Telex: 790 71919, CABLE ADIWES SYDNEY

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
Fax: 55/11/284-1683
Telex: 391 1125506 LFC

Canada:
ADDISON-WESLEY PUBLISHERS LTD.
26 PRINCE ANDREW PLACE, PO BOX 580 DON MILLS, ONTARIO M3C 2T8 CANADA
Tel: 416-447-5101
Fax: 416-443-0948
Telex: 986 743

England:
ADDISON-WESLEY EUROPEAN/PACIFIC PUBLISHING GROUP
Finchampstead Road, Wokingham, Berkshire RG11 2NZ, ENGLAND
Tel: 44/734/794-000
Fax: 44/734/794-035
Telex: 851 846 136
Cable: ADIWES WOKINGHAM

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
Fax: 81/33/291-4592
Telex: 781 33239 AW TOKYO
Cable: ADIWES TANASHI

Jordan:
Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., P.O. Box 830410 Zahran, Amman, JORDAN
Tel: 962/6/699 119
Fax: 962/6/648517
Telex: 22262 TRV SRV JO

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
Fax: 525-660-4930
Telex: 383 1771 410

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
Fax: 65/339-9707
Telex: RS 20904 ADWES

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
3-30-10, Hongou, Bunkyou-ku, TOKYO
Tel: 03-3812-0331

Oxford University Press Japan
2-4-8, Kaname, Toshima-ku, TOKYO
Tel: 03-5995-3901

Routledge, Chapman & Hall ∞

USA:
Routledge, Chapman & Hall, 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001-2291

O’Reilly & Associates, Inc. ∞

https://www.oreilly.com/

103A Morris Street, Sebastopol, CA 95472
Tel: 707-829-0515, 800-998-9938 in the US and Canada
Fax: 707-829-0104
Questions about prices and ordering: nuts at ora.com
Questions or comments about technical content: bookquestions at ora.com
Subscribe to the O’Reilly e-mail mailing list: book-info-request at ora.com

SSC – Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc. ∞

Seattle, WA
Tel: 206-367-8649
Fax: 206-527-2806
email: sales at ssc.com

Email addresses / phone numbers of technical bookstores ∞

(Just in case your city doesn’t have a good bookstore. If it does, look there and don’t forget to check any used book stores in your locale).

Name
city, state
phone, Fax (if available), email (if available)
WWW site (if available).

—

Computer Literacy Bookshop
San Jose, CA
http://www.clbooks.com/
Tel: 408-435-0744
Fax: 408-435-1823
orders: clbooks.com
service: clbooks.com
info: clbooks.com

Quantum Books
Cambridge, MA
Tel: 617-494-5042
Fax: 617-577-7282
email: quanbook at world.std.com

Total Information
Rochester, NY
Tel: 800-876-4636

Softpro
Burlington, MA
Tel: 617-2730-2917
Fax: 617-273-2499
email: softpro at world.std.com

TECHbooks
Beaverton, OR
email: bip at techbook.com (send the word “help” in the subject line)

OPAMP Technical Books
Los Angeles, CA
Tel: 800-468-4322

Stanford University Bookstore
email: bookstore at sierra.stanford.edu

Powell’s Technical bookstore
Portland, OR
Tel: 1-800-225-6911

Book Scientific
New York, NY
Tel: 800-621-1220

Trojan Bookstore
(one of the best w/ great tech book selection!)
University of Southern California, University Park, Los Angeles, CA 90089
Tel: 213-740-BOOK[2665]

Open Windows (UNIX Book Service)
(Mail order bookstore for Europe and Middle East)
35 Bermuda Terrace, Cambridge CB4 3LD, England.
Tel: +44 223 313273 [UK: 0223-313273]
Fax: +44 223 461391 [UK: 0223-461391]
email: JLD1 at cus.cam.ac.uk (will be passed on to the bookstore)

Technical Book Company
2056 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025
Tel: 310-475-5711
Fax: 310-470-9810

San Diego Technical Books
4698 Convoy St, San Diego, CA 92111
Tel: 619-279-4990
Fax: 619-279-5088

Toronto Computer Books
521 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario M4Y 1Y4
Tel: 416-925-2088
Fax: 416-925-3471
email: tcb at io.org

Cucumber Information Services, Inc.
(Unix/C/INTERNET Mail Order Books)
https://cucumber.com/
497 South Stonestreet Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 20850
Tel: 800-223-8649 (UNIX), 301-251-8649 (UNIX)
Fax: 301-251-0069

The Bookpool
email: bookpool at panix.com (email the line “send info” for information)
Fax: 718-638-8202

ASUCLA Student’s Store – Technical Books Division
308 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90024
Tel: 310-206-0763, 1-800-456-0019
email: mceleste at asucla.ucla.edu

Reiter’s Scientific, Medical, & Technical Books
URL unconfirmed [ 2 ]
Washington, D.C.
Tel: 202-223-3327, 1-800-537-4314
Fax: 202-296-9103
email: books at reiters.com

Washington Law & Professional Books
Washington, D.C.
Tel: 202-223-5543, 1-800-537-4314
Fax: 202-223-5546
email: law at reiters.com

The Electric Bookstore Inc.
URL unknown [ 3 ]
P.O. Box 47632, 939 Lawrence Avenue East, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3C 3S7
Tel: 416-510-1247
Fax: 416-510-1246
email: books at electric.interlog.com
email: Tom Tschritter (Manager): tom at electric.interlog.com

University Book Store
https://web.archive.org/web/20221103190403/http://www.uwbookstore.com/home
Madison, WI
Tel: 608-257-3784, 800-993-BOOK
Fax: 608-257-9479
email: info at univbkstr.com (auto-reply with more addresses)
email: techbooks at univbkstr.com
email, orders: orders at univbkstr.com

Hoffman Research Services
Ralph Hoffman (owner-manager)
PO Box 342 Rillton, PA 15678
Tel: 412-446-3374
email: hoffsearch at aol.com (no search fee)

Credits for part of the list:
J.L. Dawson, Monty Solomon, Tom Rubinstein, Martha Anderson, etc.

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 [I don’t know what “Tlx” is]

Credits:
Adrian Wontroba, John R Levine

Footnotes

1. was www.internet-is.com/library/ [ ↩ ]
2. Try https://www.reiters.com/, was 199.120.204.1/reiters/index.html (not archived) [ ↩ ]
3. was www.cadvision.com/bookstore/electric.html [ ↩ ]