Oxford University Press, in cooperation with the Stanford University Libraries' HighWire Press, is pleased to announce the availability of the new Oxford English Dictionary Online Edition for beta testing. This beta version of OED Online is being made available only to the Stanford University community for a limited time, prior to the official launch of the edition later this spring. We invite you to use and test this unique publication at

http://oed-beta.highwire.org

This launch of OED Online, which is functionally a new edition of the famous work, marks a significant milestone in the history of "the world's greatest dictionary." From the publishers:

"In addition to offering unparalleled access to the wealth of material contained in the twenty-volume Oxford English Dictionary and three volumes of Additions, online publication enables the 'treasure-house' of the English language to move with the times as never before.

For the first time since it was completed in 1928, the Oxford English Dictionary is being completely revised, every word and every sense is being fully updated to take account of the latest changes in language and scholarship. New material from the $55 million revision program, which began in 1990, will be released quarterly, offering online subscribers a unique opportunity to follow the progress of the English language.

- Search the equivalent of over 20 volumes of information with speed and ease.

- Display entries according to your needs. For the first time you can turn pronunciation, etymologies, variant spellings, and quotations on and off.

- See at least 1,000 new and revised entries each quarter.

- Compare revised entries with entries from the Second Edition to see how the language has changed."

This new version of the OED is substantially different in content and functionality from the versions used on campus over the past, several years. The beta version includes the complete content of the most recent print edition and the content of all three volumes of Additions; it will soon begin to include the results of the ongoing revision program.

OED Online also allows context-specific searching (for words within entries, etymologies, and quotations), and searching by date, author, work and title of cited texts, as well as the previously-available function of finding the definition of a particular word. It requires no software other than your Web browser to use.

The beta version of the OED Online Edition is currently available to users located on the Stanford University campus. Though this version is fully functional for searching, development of the product is continuing during the beta test period, since there are several details -- Print, Mail, non-Latin language display -- that we have yet to complete.

Oxford University Press and HighWire Press invite comments and suggestions from any and all users of the beta version of OED Online. Please direct these by e-mail to

oed-beta-feedback@highwire.org

If all goes well with our tests and your comments, the production version will be released to subscribers world-wide in mid-March, so timely comments are most welcome.

The OED Online Edition (beta): http://oed-beta.highwire.org

The Social Sciences Resource Center in Green Library will sponsor a Census 2000 Program, Wednesday, February 2, starting at 9:00 a.m. in the Multimedia Seminar Room in the SSRC. This morning session will be dedicated to library staff. (There will be an afternoon session, starting at 1:30 p.m., for the campus community and for staff who cannot attend the morning session.)

Ms. Cam McIntosh from the US Bureau of the Census will give a formal presentation on Census 2000 and the Bureau's online system, Federal FactFinder, which has the capability to browse, search, and map data from many Census Bureau sources. In early 2001, the data from Census 2000 will be available in American FactFinder. Following her presentation, Ms. McIntosh will be available to answer questions from the audience. For more information, please contact Joan Loftus (loftus@sulmail.stanford.edu) or Dick Fitchen (fitchen@stanford.edu).

These titles reflect the compiler's notions of the humorous, wry, ironic or unusual, and should not be construed as reflecting any other opinion or judgment, nor the editorial opinion of SUL/AIR News.

Caterpillar stew : a feast of animal poems / Gavin Ewart. -- London :Hutchinson, 1990.
ABS1411 / PR6055 .W3 C3 1990 / Green - Stacks.

The eggplant skin pants, and poems / Mary Laird. -- Mt. Horeb, Wis. :Perishable Press Limited, 1973.
APB6417 / Z239 .P45L45 1973 f / Special Collections - Gunst.

Fashion is spinach / Elizabeth Hawes. -- 1st ed. -- New York, Random House [c1938]
AGE4653 / 391 .H391 / Stanford Auxiliary Library.

Man is an onion: reviews and essays / D. J. Enright. -- London, Chatto and Windus, 1972.
AEK9761 / PN710 .E594 / Green - Stacks.

Memoir of a thinking radish : an autobiography / Peter Medawar. -- Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1986.
AFR1339 / QR180.72 .M43 A36 1986 / Green - Stacks.

SUL/AIR has the following open position this week.

Library Specialist (1/24/00); REQ# J000187

For a complete description of these jobs and a list of all current SUL/AIR jobs, visit the Human Resources Web site at

Human Resources Web site.