High freight costs stimulated the idea of renting a truck to pick up publisher textbook orders. Benefits, including lower cost per 100 pounds of freight and scheduling when there is room to receive cartons and crew to process the books, outweigh the problems encountered. (MLW)

The Regional College Store Associations have been developing Master Textbook Lists, a program that compiles, at a central location, a master list of titles used at each store's school. Two benefits are: (1) needed books can be rushed from one store to another, and (2) reductions occur in inventory of nonreturnable books. (MLW)

This current overview of optical disk technology describes the evolving marketplace for optical products, the use of libraries as test sites for prototype CD-ROM (compact disk read-only-memory) products, CD-ROM developments, new optical technologies, and advances in magnetics. A list of some compact disk manufacturers and a glossary of terms are…

Describes one library's development of a CD-ROM lending collection. Topics include survey results, policies, procedures, troubleshooting, and promotion. A sidebar contains a brief bibliography of journals which review CD-ROMs and publishers who provide CD samplers. (AEF)

Examines developments in multimedia technologies and in the World Wide Web. Discusses CD-recordable, CD-rewritable, cable modems, personal digital assistants, digital video discs, interactivity and virtual worlds, advertising on the Web, and Intranets and CD-ROM networks. Eight tables and figures show costs, download time, estimated sales, storage…