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This article describes the rationale behind the construction of an interactive numeric flies retrieval system, and the creation of the system (project team, project phases, data preparation, software, and hardware used). The major findings section includes comments on data problem resolution, database design and construction, interface considerations, enhanced cataloging, file transfer, standards adherence, and staff resources. The incorporation of the system into the range of services of Cornell's Mann Library is described.

This article reviews areas of common concern between librarians on the one hand and scholars on the other as they each attempt to pursue their work in an era of electronic information. The issues require the attention of both librarians and scholars, and it is argued that both communities need now to talk more extensively with one another in an effort to re‐think the fundamental role of the university library in the coming years. The function and importance of Integrated Scholarly Information Systems (ISIS) are discussed with examples to illustrate the ways in which scholars are likely to acquire and integrate electronic information in the future. The article concludes with reflections on two contradictory trends that are emerging in scholarly research with the expansion of electronic research systems.

The Census of Population and Housing is an important source of demographic information. Since its inception in 1790, the decennial census has been through several revisions, causing changes in its content, statistical methodology, and distribution. These alterations reflect changes in technology, society, and economy. One of the most exciting features of the 1990 census is its availability on CD‐ROM. Another important advance for the 1990 census is the creation of TIGER/Line files, which provide digital boundary maps to support the census features.

Insects have been on the earth for 350 million years, 348 million years longer than man. With one to two million species, insects account for over three‐fourths of the animal species on earth. They are found in practically every terrestrial habitat.

In 1984–85, Reference Services Review published a series of review articles on field guides for wildflowers (Potts), birds (Klaas), trees (Kinch), and insects (Chiang). A glance at Books in Print indicates the number of new field guides appearing since that time. Rather than evaluate a new crop of highly focused field guides, the present essay examines a related kind of nature guide, the nature‐study manual. For the purposes of this essay, the nature‐study manual is defined as a guide that encourages investigation of the natural world, rather than offering facts and identifications. To be a nature‐study manual, a book must offer tools and techniques for identification (often through field guides), observation, recordkeeping, and often collection of specimens and experimentation. Books of narrative natural history and essays on a particular observer's experiences are thus excluded. The nature‐study manual's unique role is to instruct readers in how to observe and study nature for themselves, whether close to home or in far‐flung regions.

The Albert R. Mann Library at Cornell University has created a working electronic library and has made significant changes in services and staff responsibilities to address users' evolving needs. This article presents an overview of these changes, after discussing the development of electronic libraries at Mann and elsewhere. The increased usage that Mann's collections have received as the electronic library has been developed is also described.

This index accompanies the index that appeared in Reference Services Review 16:4 (1988). As noted in the introduction to that index, the articles in RSR that deal with specific reference titles can be grouped into two categories: those that review specific titles (to a maximum of three) and those that review titles pertinent to a specific subject or discipline. The index in RSR 16:4 covered the first category; it indexed, by title, all titles that had been reviewed in the “Reference Serials” and the “Landmarks of Reference” columns, as well as selected titles from the “Indexes and Indexers,” “Government Publications,” and “Special Feature” columns of the journal.

Less than a decade ago, local area networks (LANs) hardly existed. Today, they account for a burgeoning multimillion dollar market that promises to change the way organizations manage information. This phenomenal growth is a result of new technologies as well as institutional needs to efficiently interconnect expanding numbers of personal computers and peripheral hardware. Local area networks have grown in importance as computing services in organizations have become less and less centralized. They can be used to special advantage in situations where individuals need access to the highly specialized data of other users on an irregular and low‐demand basis.

The selection and evaluation of CD‐ROM disks are important steps in the planning of a CD‐ROM facility. The choice of databases depends upon, among other factors, the objectives of the library, the projected use of each disk, and financial considerations. In this article we review the literature that deals with these matters. We begin with what is available on disk selection, via both printed directories and in the journals. We next discuss reported methods of disk evaluation. Finally, we cover existing reviews of various CD‐ROM products.