ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 2 9 6 /C&RL News National Science Founda­ tion Science & Technology Information System (STIS). Access: telnet://stis.nfs.gov. Login: public. T h e N a tio n a l S c i e n c e F o u n d a tio n (N S F ) is th e p rin cip le p ro v id er o f this telnet site w here NSF publi­ cations and award abstracts m ay b e o btain ed . V arious ways to access the system a r e a v a il a b le , in c lu d in g gophering to the site, but the m ost useful is to telnet di­ rectly there, type “public” at the login, register as a user, and use TOPIC, described as a “so­ p histicated text retrieval softw are p rog ram ” d eveloped by the NSF and various contractors. It allows users to search using b o o lean op era­ tors. Many individuals have tried to use this telnet site unsuccessfully b ecau se it has unique idiosyncrasies. Without using any user documentation it can b e a lesson in futility. H owever, if the d ocu­ ment, nsf9410, is ftp’d from the sam e address, a w onderful help aid is in hand. This docu­ m ent will b e requisite for almost everyone uti­ lizing this site to its fullest extent. T o use TOPIC without docum entation is difficult even though there are several help screens. T he STIS US­ ERS’ GUIDE, n sf9 4 l0 , is excellent and truly writ­ ten from a user’s point o f view. It is excep tio n ­ ally good at explaining the problem s that may b e encountered, and with the docum ent is a tutorial w hich takes about 20 minutes to go through. O n ce through it, it beco m es clear that this is a great site; on e that will predom inately June 2 deadline for sum m er classified a d s For those o f you who will b e placing clas­ sified ads over the summer, this is a reminder that the News publishes a com bined July/ August issue at the beginning o f July and does not publish again until early September. If you have a position to advertise before Sep­ tember, the deadline is Ju n e 2 for the July/ August issue. Late ads will be accepted on a space-available basis until Ju n e 14. b e used by academ ic faculty, administrators, graduate stu­ dents, and anyone else w ho w ould like to obtain fund­ ing from the National Sci­ en c e Foundation. Since o n e o f the d ocu ­ m e n t ty p e s is “P ro g ra m G uidelines,” and sin ce this s ite is u p d a te d w e e k ly , many individuals will want to find out the procedures fo r w ritin g p ro p o s a ls fo r grants, etc., and this is the site to use. Term inal em ula­ tion must b e either V T100 or VT102. A nice feature o f this site is that it does make information available to p eop le with only e- mail access to the Internet. For those, e-m ail a m essage to stisserv@nsf.gov, leave the subject line blank, and in the text o f the m essage type “get nsf9410”. It will b e quite useful.—Laura Windsor, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univer­ sity; e-mail: windsorl@bart.db.erau.edu M u s ic & B r a in . A c c e s s : te ln e t:/ / mila.ps.uci.edu. Login: mbi password: nammbi. Choose 1 at the menu. Author/producer: Cen­ ter for Neurobiology o f Learning and Memory, University o f California at Irvine. For m ore in­ form ation contact: Norman W einberger at (714) 856-8512 or G ordon Shaw at (7 1 4 ) 856-6620. Music & Brain offers references to scholarly articles, books, con feren ce proceedings, the­ ses, and preprints on music history, education, psychology, and the physiology o f hearing and m aking music. This database is o f use not only to faculty and researchers but also to upper level undergraduates in biology, psychology, and allied health. Music & Brain resem bles grandm other’s at­ tic. Treasures abound amid a great deal o f dis­ order and irrelevant material. T he d atabase’s SWAIS software is rudimentary. It allows B o o l­ ean searching but lacks proximity operators and truncation. Music & Brain is not as current as most com ­ mercially produced databases. Although Gor­ don Shaw, o n e o f the two database administra­ tors, prom ises an update soon, he admits that an all volunteer staff adds records sporadically. As o f now, the database has com paratively few items published after 1991. Internet Reviews S a r a A m a t o , editor mailto:stisserv@nsf.gov mailto:windsorl@bart.db.erau.edu May 1994/297 The database’s coverage o f music’s effect on human social behavior is weak. Music & Brain lists many articles on neurotransmitters and au­ ditory perception, but few, if any, current en­ tries cover rap lyrics and violence, heavy metal and suicide, or love songs’ psychosocial effects. Despite these imperfections, I still recom­ mend Music & Brain. There are useful items for almost anyone doing a neurobiology project or studying music as it relates to medicine. A com prehensible help manual is part o f the database’s introductory menu, and for libraries without CD-ROM subscriptions to Medline or Psychlit, free searching with Music & Brain pro­ vides a supplement to and limited substitute for D IALO G ’S Psychinfo or Medline.— Eileen H. K ram er, U tica College; e -m a il:e h k @ u c l. ucsu.edu L E G IS L A T E G o p h e r. A ccess: gopher:// mudhoney.micro.umn.edu 7000. Comments/ questions: legislate@mudhoney.micro.umn.edu LEGI-SLATE G oph er is a prototype o f a planned commercial database. The database w ill o ffe r substantially enhanced access to House and Senate legislative instruments and the daily Federal Register. Legi-slate gopher is directed toward an academic market and w ill be o f great interest to colleges and uni­ versities w ith user communities in need o f tim ely and authoritative inform ation about governmental activities. The database is produced by Legi-slate, Inc., a subsidiary o f the Washington Post Co., in con­ junction with the Academic Computing Center o f the University o f Minnesota. At present, the database is static, containing a selection o f files from the 103rd Congress and the Federal Reg­ ister. The vendor plans a full commercial re­ lease o f information about all bills and resolu­ tions from the 103rd Congress and the 1993-94 Federal Register, with daily updates, in sum­ mer 1994. There are no immediate plans for retrospective coverage. The information is extracted from G overn­ ment Printing O ffice electronic tapes. The staff o f Legi-slate provides extensive value-added services, including indexing to bills, content analysis, and information synthesis. Examples o f the bill coverage include: CRS bill digests, legislative histories, com mittee actions, and comments by legislators. Laws which w ould be affected by the pending legislation are noted. An interesting and useful feature is a listing o f relevant articles from CQ, the National Jour­ nal, and the Washington Post. The Federal Reg­ ister w ill be searchable by keyword, date, sec­ tion, agency, or CFR title and part. The scope o f the enhancements is substan­ tial and may be evaluated by selecting a bill from the prototype and follow ing easy-to-use, menu-driven screens. The search options for locating bills are displayed. Online help is avail­ able. Users should note that the information is under copyright protection. Portions o f the legislative information con­ tained in Legi-slate gopher are available through a mix o f print and electronic sources. A sub­ file o f the Library o f Congress catalog, avail­ able at no charge over the Internet, contains detailed information about current and retro­ spective legislative instruments. Librarians are familiar with other sources o f access to bill di­ gests, histories, and articles. The uniqueness and value o f Legi-slate gopher is in the exten­ sive scope o f information, the comprehensive­ ness o f the information package, the ease o f use and currency. Legi-slate gopher cracks the code o f the often impenetrable Federal Regis­ ter. According to the very helpful Legislate, Inc. staff, pricing for the commercial product is not yet finalized. It w ill be a site-licensing arrange­ ment with fees based on the full-time student enrollment o f the subscriber. Portions o f the database w ill remain available at no charge over the Internet, although the amount o f free infor­ mation is as yet undetermined. As the “fee vs. free” controversy, especially surrounding governmental information, moves to the Internet, librarians should evaluate both commercial and noncommercial resources. Ul­ timately, each academic institution must deter­ mine the real value o f value-added services.— Lorrie Knight, C onnecticut College; e-mail: lanki@conncoll.edu ■ Share your opinion w ith C&RL N ew s readers C&RL News is looking for well-reasoned com­ mentaries on issues o f interest to academic and research librarians for its column, “The Way I See It.” It’s an opportunity to share your thoughts with a national audience. Essays should be be­ tween 500-750 words and should be sent to “The Way I See It,” C&RL News, ACRL, 50 E. Huron St. ‚ Chicago, IL 60611-2795; fax: (312) 280- 7663; e-mail: mary.ellen.davis@ala.org mailto:legislate@mudhoney.micro.umn.edu mailto:lanki@conncoll.edu mailto:mary.ellen.davis@ala.org