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Chadwyck‐Healey Announces the Patrologla Latina Database. The Patrologia Latina Database is a major text conversion and electronic publishing project. It is a complete machine‐readable edition of the classic nineteenth‐century collection of texts edited by the ecclesiastical publisher Jacques‐Paul Migne.

A special track, sponsored by OCLC Micro magazine, has been added to the annual Computers in Libraries Conferences. Convened by Dan Marmion, editor of OCLC Micro, the track has been planned by Dave Brunell, executive director of Bibliographical Center for Research (BCR).

John Popko has hit the ground running. Early in June he was elected as vice president/president elect of OCLC's Users Council and, as such, he anticipated a full year's time in which to shape his presidential agenda. But in less than sixty days he found himself promoted to the presidency.

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.

In order to expand availability of the FirstSearch system, OCLC has instituted a new subscription pricing option. The University of Utah became the first institution to select the new pricing system.

CD‐ROM technology, introduced to librarians in the US four years ago, has taken hold as a support tool for technical processing and public services activities. In the interim, librarians and vendors have worked together to improve services and systems and develop new products in response to user needs. Further developments will depend upon librarian initiatives, vendor efforts to exploit other types of optical technologies to full advantage, and the development of standards that will assure uniform quality and acceptance.

Academic librarians seeking a role model will do well to study the career of William Gray Potter. Presently the director of libraries for the University of Georgia in Athens, Potter has risen through the ranks of the profession, serving in every important capacity he's set his sights on.

Since the introduction of CD‐ROM databases for libraries, books and articles have been written and conferences held to both define the technology and explore uses of the new format in libraries. Nancy Melin Nelson has defined two types of CD‐ROM products for the library market. The first is designed as a support tool for automation activities, such as cataloging and public access systems. The Library Corporation's BiblioFile and Intelligent Catalog products are examples. The other type, and the one on which this article will focus, provides unlimited access to databases previously produced in an online and/or paper format (i.e., reference databases). Librarians have been relatively quick to accept CD‐ROM as a viable alternative or companion to their online databases. CD‐ROM technology has even afforded some libraries their first encounter with automated reference databases. Experience has taught us, however, that incorporating CD‐ROM reference systems is not as simple as many vendors would have librarians believe. Planning for the new technology is vital. This article will examine four areas of planning that should be addressed before a well‐informed decision to purchase can be made: hardware, database(s), search and retrieval software, and user education.

Discusses the dedication of the new MAPS micrographics laboratory in Pennsylvania. Considers the facilities of the new building, similarities between OCLC and MAPS, the history of MAPS, and the future of micrographics preservation. Concludes that microform is not obsolescent, and that preservation is no longer a challenge or a one‐dimensional solution.

OCLC has always been a farsighted institution. Only ten years after its successful North American venture in providing online cataloging support to Ohio libraries (more than ten years before the official introduction of the European Economic Community), OCLC opened an office in the United Kingdom. Its success has been nothing less than explosive.