E-access changes everything.(ONLINE DATABASES)(29th annual Charleston Conference on Issues in Book and Serials Acquisition)(Conference notes)

IT IS TEMPTING TO FALL INTO A funk with budget cuts looming, but the 29th annual Charleston Conference on Issues in Book and Serials Acquisition, held in November, took a positive approach with a theme of "Necessity Is the Mother of Invention." Rather than wallowing in woes, participants were urged to rethink everything we know about library collections and services. According to several of the plenary speakers, this reconception must involve essential local services built around ever-growing collections of e-resources.

Research and pizza

Kevin Guthrie, president of Ithaka, believes that the digital delivery of knowledge changes everything: "books in electronic form will change our world." Scholarly information is no longer insulated from the commercial …