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The last decade has seen the closing of several schools of library and information science in the US, including prestigious ones like those of Columbia University and Case‐Western Reserve. The high costs of maintaining such programmes partly accounts for this change. Decreasing enrolment presents another factor. Fewer students perceive library and information science as an economically attractive profession. Expected beginning salaries balanced against the requirements in subject, language or technical expertise have prompted many prospective candidates to enrol in other programmes that promise them a greater return for their education dollars.

Security is becoming an increasingly more important concern both at the desktop level and at the network level. This article discusses several approaches to authenticating individuals through the use of biometric devices. While libraries might not implement such devices, they may appear in the near future of desktop computing, particularly for access to institutional computers or for access to sensitive information. Other approaches to computer security focus on protecting the contents of electronic transmissions and verification of individual users. After a brief overview of encryption technologies, the article examines public‐key cryptography which is getting a lot of attention in the business world in what is called public key infrastructure. It also examines other efforts, such as IBM’s Cryptolope, the Secure Sockets Layer of Web browsers, and Digital Certificates and Signatures. Secure electronic transmissions are an important condition for conducting business on the Net. These business transactions are not limited to purchase orders, invoices, and contracts. This could become an important tool for information vendors and publishers to control access to the electronic resources they license. As license negotiators and contract administrators, librarians need to be aware of what is happening in these new technologies and the impact that will have on their operations.

As CD‐ROM becomes more and more a standard reference and technical support tool in all types of libraries, the annual review of this technology published in Computers in Libraries magazine increases in size and scope. This year, author Susan L. Adkins has prepared this exceptionally useful bibliography which she has cross‐referenced with a subject index.

Ulrich's and EBSCO are two contenders in the directories of serials business who have made their information available on CDROM. Having used the printed versions of both of these directories, as well as the CD version of Ulrich's, I was very interested to see Serials Directory/EBSCO CD‐ROM. Norman Desmarais' review, after beta‐testing the product, was glowing [CD‐ROM Librarian, April 1989, pp. 28–33]; would it look as good three years later?