When Robert W. Van Kirk released a study in January about selenium contamination in trout streams in southeastern Idaho, he expected some flak from the influential phosphate-mining industry. He did not expect to feel pressured by the administration of his own institution, Idaho State University, where he is an associate professor of mathematics.…

Examines the recent academic publishing trend of producing series of books on "hot" topics. Cites critics who claim that the proliferation of such series has politicized series, that some series continue despite outliving their usefulness, and that a good series requires a great deal of labor by scholarly editors. (DB)

In this article, the author presents Roger W. Bowen who was a president of the State University of New York at New Paltz, in 1996 and now a general secretary of the American Association of University Professors, that he gave almost no thought to the annual salary of $108,000. Here, his experience as an underpaid president, is familiar to governing…

HEMAR Education Corporation, a finance corporation, has announced a tuition prepayment program and invited colleges to participate. The program allows parents to pay postsecondary tuition years in advance at deeply discounted rates, with guarantees that the amount paid would cover college attendance costs. Unlike existing programs, college choice…

Representatives of American publishers have agreed that an assertive new effort is needed to prevent unauthorized copying of electronic materials, particularly through computers linked to the World Wide Web. Copyright management systems are proposed as a means to provide protection for content of intellectual property and for on-line financial…

A brief picture of the academic library of the future is presented and anxiety is expressed over the impact of technology-enhanced and online education, which has become a critical part of educational enterprise, on these libraries. The growing need for expanding the people's role as educators and scholarly publishers into agents of literacy and…

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)

Describes how an economist from St. Andrews University in Scotland is lining up support for an online venture to challenge the market dominance of traditional academic publishers. (EV)

Describes how, as tuitions soar and more students seek money to go to college, financial-assistance companies prosper by selling information that is available for free. (EV)

Describes how some textbook publishers pay professors to review their books and then assign them to students, increasing sales. Critics say the practice is unethical--and growing. (EV)

Describes how students at the Fashion Institute of Technology and Simon Fraser University collaborated on a fashion show in cyberspace. (EV)

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)

A suit first filed by 6 publishers, then extended to a class-action suit involving 83 publishers, resulted in a ruling that photocopying whole articles from a scholarly journal without permission violated "fair use" because the copy was used to enhance archival files rather than enhance research directly. (MSE)

Some scholars warn that a federal court ruling on copyright infringement may increase costs and delay production of anthologies of readings for college students. Others say the ruling provides needed safeguards against the pirating of intellectual property. Increased care in obtaining reproduction permission is anticipated. (MSE)

Canadian educators are increasingly worried about their country's position as a destination of choice for international students, according the annual conference of the Canadian Bureau for International Education. The bureau added that Canada has dropped out of the top five preferred countries as a place to study. Over all, the number of…