Beta testing--the process of trying a product in a real-world setting before releasing it commercially--exploits a natural interface between universities and high-technology industries. High-tech companies need confidential, real-world tests of new products, and universities are eager to get an early look at tomorrow's technology. (MLW)

A publisher of scientific journals has sued a scientist over an article comparing prices of physics journals, raising fears in libraries and universities that others will be discouraged from publicizing information about rising journal costs. Others say the author's research methods were flawed. (MSE)

The most important results of computer networking experiments on campus may be increased use of technology, but the projects did not always take the directions anticipated. The projects also highlighted problems in social and educational systems that must be solved before computing can be comfortably integrated into higher education. (MSE)

The combination of the nascent National Education and Research Network and new imaging technology that could turn data into books in minutes would irreversibly change scholarly publishing. The Coalition for Networked Information is working to remove scholarly publishing from the commercial publishing industry. (MSE)

The unauthorized reproduction of printed material in electronic form, particularly using optical scanning, is rising and would be impossible to monitor. The publishing industry is trying to establish the extent of the trend and determine how to cope with the copyright problems it raises. (MSE)

A lawsuit against Kinko's, a nationwide chain of photocopying stores, is expected to be filed soon. The target of the lawsuit is photocopied anthologies used by professors to supplement textbooks or to substitute for them altogether. There is evidence that anthologies have been produced without permission of copyright owners. (MLW)

Publishers are suing Kinko's Graphics Corporation for copyright violation, claiming that they illegally reproduced "substantial portions" of 12 books and included them in anthologies made for professors at Columbia University, the New School for Social Research, and New York University. Off campus copy shops represent a major threat to…

A study has found that scholarly journal subscriptions have risen over 18 percent in 1986-87, with a few publishers accounting for most of the increase. Some feel publishers are charging as much as the market can bear. Libraries are beginning to share subscriptions and collections more. (MSE)

Interviews with computer-company officials and a survey show that: despite higher education discounts, computer companies make money; colleges offer computer companies intellectual capital; students take hardware and software preferences with them into jobs; higher education influences computers built and sold; and higher education is a…

With little appropriate commercial software available, college faculty are creating their own specialized software and are willing to share it with colleagues. To fill the gap between creator and user, colleges, scholarly societies, grant-making organizations, and computer manufacturers have created a variety of software-dissemination programs.…