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Dissertation Abstracts OnDisc consists of a set of compact discs containing citations to dissertations and the software, ProQuest, which is used to search those discs. The discs are arranged in chronological order, with the first disc covering 1861–1980. This first disc contains citations only, with the author, title, date, subject of the dissertation with a reference to the appropriate volume and page of Dissertation Abstracts, and the UMI order number, if available. From 1980 on, the discs also contain the abstract of the dissertation, if available. The discs are available in at least two versions: the one supplied for this review consists of six discs with the discs divided chronologically and by section, with Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences and Section B: Sciences. The set of discs in the reviewer's library consists of four discs, only divided chronologically. The reviewer assumes that the further division is designed to allow subscribers to choose Section A or Section B only.

The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories:

The major bibliographic utilities in North America were established in the 1970s. What role are they playing in the 1980s? This select bibliography provides a synopsis of what is happening in the world of bibliographic utilities.

Direct democracy by citizen initiatives is often heralded as the avenue for the true will of the people to be heard. While scholars have debated whether this leads to a form of Madison's “tyranny of the majority,” the debate over the concrete impact of such initiatives on racially marginalized groups remains unsettled. We examine a different question about racially marginalized groups' interests in this process: the symbolic assertion of white supremacy expressed through this mechanism of majority will. We develop the concept of “racial spectacles” to describe the narrative vehicles that serve to symbolically reassert and reinforce real existing racial hierarchies and inequalities. We explore the creation of these spectacles through the initiative process because it is a state-sanctioned vehicle that enables white dominance. Paradoxically, these campaigns that purport to be colorblind depend on the enactment of these racial spectacles. Through an analysis of five statewide anti-affirmative action initiative campaigns from 1996 to 2008, we explore both macro and micro political dynamics: public displays of these campaigns as well as individual, private agency expressed in the public and private act of voting; court decisions in initiative litigation as well as individual and interest group participation in these cases. Ultimately, we argue that this form of racial spectacle further inculcates the public in the postracial ideology of colorblindness.