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Serials constitute the largest portion of the reference collection budget. Rapidly increasing prices and new titles compound the problem of finding adequate funds. Many libraries can no longer afford to automatically order new editions of standard or “landmark” reference serials. Yet while the process of budgetary decision‐making is often distasteful, it can be beneficial. Critical discussions of titles can reveal forgotten features of serials or alternative sources of information.

This is my last column as editor of “Reference Serials.” All correspondence regarding this column should now be sent to the new editor: Virginia A. Gilbert, Editor, “Reference Serials,” Reference Services Review, 117 Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, NC 27706.

One of the more popular exhibits at the ALA meeting in Philadelphia in July was the online demonstration of the Academic American Encyclopedia. Clusters of librarians gathered to watch and assess the performance of this reference source. Some greeted it with skepticism, others with enthusiasm; but it was quite evident that the day of the single format reference source has passed. Multiple format reference sources were discussed and demonstrated throughout the exhibition hall.

“What above all marks out a reference book from other works is the way it is arranged: it must be deliberately designed for ease of consultation rather than for continuous reading.” “Ease of consultation,” an essential component for reference books, as stated by Gavin Higgens in his book Printed Reference Material, is a criterion that reference librarians often consider as they use reference books to answer questions. Reference book publishers have long used various special features designed to speed access to information in these sources. Thumb indexes for dictionaries come to mind immediately when one thinks of this type of special feature. Some publishers include printed index tabs listing sections or subject categories, as in The National Directory of Addresses and Telephone Numbers, where the tabs are on a separate sheet of paper to be attached to the appropriate pages by the librarian. Margin or edge indexes in the Washington Information Directory or in the Government Reports Announcements & Index provide quick identification of sections to turn to, and are easy to use for both patrons and librarians. Color can also be used as a device to distinguish different sections of a reference tool. Literary Market Place and Magazine Industry Market Place, for example, use yellow pages to separate the main body from the quick reference directory of names and telephone numbers. Of course, these devices are not substitutions for indexes or tables of contents, but are helpful to librarians and users who want to be more self‐sufficient. The editor of this column would like reference book publishers to consider including more of these devices in their publications. Readers are invited to write to this editor with other examples of special features which promote “ease of consultation” of reference serials.

This column has always intended to provide in‐depth, comparative reviews of abstracting services, indexes, serial bibliographies, yearbooks, directories, almanacs and other serial tools which would normally be housed in reference departments. For the purposes of this column, reference serials are materials which must meet two rather flexible requirements: they must be useful as reference sources and they must be issued as serials or be titles which are superseded periodically by new editions.

Digest of Education Statistics. 1962— . A. $7.00/U.S.; $8.75/foreign. Published by U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, National Center for Education Statis‐tics, 400 Maryland Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20202. Available from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. Indexed: ASI. S/N 065–000–00037–7. Su‐Docs ED 1.113: Depository Item No. 460‐A‐10. Following a pattern of collecting statistics on education which began under the direction of the U.S. Office of Education in 1870, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has issued the Digest of Education Statistics (DES) annually since 1962, except for when it published a combined edition in 1977–78.

ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES — UNITED STATES — DIRECTORIES Federal Yellow Book; A Loose‐Leaf Directory of Federal Departments and Agencies. 1976‐ . Updates are issued every two months, comprising at least two complete issues every twelve months. $130.00. Washington Monitor, Inc. 499 National Press Building, Washington, DC 20045. Ed.: Teri Calabrese. Circ.: unknown. Indexed: self‐indexed. LC 78‐642223. ISSN 0145‐6202. OCLC 266012. The Washington Monitor publishes two yellow books: the Congressional Yellow Book, a directory of members of Congress, committee assignments and staff; and the Federal Yellow Book, a loose‐leaf directory of the personnel in federal departments and agencies, including the White House and the Executive Office of the President. The loose‐leaf format enables the publisher to keep the information up to date by replacement pages issued every other month.

I am concerned with the training of instruction librarians. By drawing attention to some of the differences between work at the reference desk and work in the classroom, I hope to show that the traditional on‐the‐job training for classroom instruction is both inappropriate and inadvisable. Alternative methods of training for library instruction will then be briefly assessed.

“Reference Serials” intends to provide in‐depth, evaluative reviews of abstracting services, indexes, serial bibliographies, yearbooks, directories, almanacs and other continuations which would normally be housed in reference collections. For the purposes of this column, reference serials are defined as materials which meet two rather flexible requirements: 1) they must be useful as reference sources, and 2) they must be issued as serials or be titles superseded periodically by new editions.

Recently, questionnaires from two reference book publishers were received by the Perkins Library Reference Department at Duke University. One questionnaire described new reference serials which were being considered as possible publications, while the other was a “user needs survey” of a standard reference serial. Both questionnaires were examples of ways in which reference librarians can have direct input into the creation (or non‐creation) of new reference sources and the improvement of already existing reference tools.