We've had a number of people write us to ask, "Where is it?" They know it's not in their local library, and they don't want to do the search of every library to which we provide a link (such a small subset of the possible world, too). To those few, we've responded that they should take the full catalog details to their favorite reference librarian. This morning a reference librarian wrote, "I was taking a look at RedLightGreen and found two items that we would be interested in obtaining through Interlibrary Loan. ... I searched WorldCat, Melvyl & Google and found no other references to these items. I do not have access to Eureka, so I seek your advice on how I could obtain location info. on these items." The librarian provided the reference for a typescript of over a 100 pages and a microform of a 4 page discussion guide for a CBS broadcast.
So, the "go ask your reference librarian" answer isn't going to work. Here's my response.
Thank you for your interest in RedLightGreen. In designing this service, we had to work with the constraint that we would not be able to identify the cataloging institution. We struggled with the frustration factor that some things are unique and are not accessible outside of the cataloging institution or items have access restricted to academic researchers: in short, some cataloged items are not available by interlibrary loan. To limit this frustration, we've excluded things that are clearly cataloged as archival materials. On the other hand, a number of us believe that knowing of the existence of something will assist those researchers beyond the traditional walls of the academy. As you've provided the actual items, i was motivated to treat this as a brief use case study and see what i could discover, knowing the information in the bibliographic record.A further Google search on Eugene DuBow (note the removal of the space) demonstrated that he "headed the Chicago office of American Jewish Committee and was coordinating counter-demonstration work greater Chicago area" [1]. Eugene DuBow's bio appears here: http://www.uky.edu/Alumni/hoda/dubowEC.htm . It indicates that as of 2000 he was still working for the AJC. You might contact them directly for information on Eugene DuBow's work: http://www.ajc.org/. The AJC has a library that may be of assistance: Library at ajc org.
As far as "CIStems, Inc., Cultural information service, " it seems they did work for the major networks as late at 1988 [2]. As all three guides associated with CIStems had to do with Jewish issues, I suspect CIStems is the same as this group,"Cultural Information Service, a New York-based ecumenical resourcing agency. ...Cultural Information Service, PO Box 92, New York, NY, 10016." [3] It seems CIStems is likely the same Cultural Information Service run by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat (brussat at spiritualrx com)[4], who seem active on the web. You may be able to contact them directly for a copy of the guide. If these links between instances of such a generic name are correct, it will be pretty remarkable. My expectation was that your best bet was going to be contacting CBS to find the educational division, etc, etc.
I am familiar with the Vanderbilt Television News Archive [5] and thought that, while they did not likely have the viewing guide, they may have the actual TV show. I did a search on CBS and Skokie and didn't turn up an October 1981 show. I'm not sure when they started taping more than just the evening news casts; this may have been before that. Depending on your research interests, you may find the other Skokie/Nazi news episodes of interest. The Vanderbilt archive is a unique institution in that their right to loan tapes directly to individuals (instead of to another library) is expressly granted in federal law.
Thanks again for your interest in RedLightGreen. I hope that you continue to find the information and the service useful. We welcome comments and critiques as we continue through this pilot period in developing the service.
Sincerely,
Judith Bush
[1] http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/civil_rights/topics/0700.html
[2] http://www.va-holocaust.com/page106.html and a search in RedLightGreen turns up a guide for "Holocaust"
[3]http://www.georgiabulletin.org/local/1978/09/14/d/from a Google search on ["Cultural information service" discussion guide]
[4]http://www.spiritualityhealth.com/newsh/items/blank/item_227.html#brussat
[5] http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/TV-NewsSearch/tvn-database-info.pl?SID=&UID=&CID=&auth=&code=
I mentioned Amazon's inside the book when the NY Times published about it. The Google news sounds interesting as well. It's less likely to appeal to the undergraduate with the paper due tomorrow morning than Amazon's service though.
Click through for the ShelfLife clippings.
GOOGLE SEEKS A FOOTHOLD IN AMAZON TERRITORY
At the same time that Amazon is seeking to incorporate some of Google's
search capabilities, Google has been in talks with publishers, hoping that
convince them to allow it to use some book content in its database. Unlike
Amazon, Google wouldn't offer the content in excerpted snippets, but rather
would use its spiders to crawl through the content, turning up relevant
links. If a user clicks through, she would go to a Google page offering an
abstract of the book and an opportunity to buy it. It's unclear who would
handle the actual transaction, but presumably the publisher. Google has
been coy about its plans -- "We're talking to a few publishers and are
always looking to add more content that will make the search more useful
for customers," says a company spokeswoman -- but rumor has it Google has
cut a deal with one publisher to enter as many as 60,000 titles into its
database. (Publishers Weekly 28 Oct 2003)
http://publishersweekly.reviewsnews.con/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA331934
AMAZON TURNS OVER A NEW LEAF ON BOOK SEARCHES
Amazon says its new "Search Inside the Book" feature does not allow users
to print pages from within books, allaying authors' fears that unscrupulous
readers might use it to print out recipes, hotel recommendations or other
such reference material. Amazon VP Steve Kessel refused to confirm that
Amazon had changed the feature to prevent such abuses, citing security
concerns, but acknowledged that 15 authors had requested their books to be
removed from the Search the Book database. Up until last Friday, according
to Authors Guild executive director Paul Aiken, the Search Inside the Book
tool allows users to search the complete text of a book for words or
phrases and print out pages where the phrases appeared. That feature
appears to be disabled, said Aiken, who praised the feature but said "we
just think it needs a little work." (AP 31 Oct 2003)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20031101/D7UHG5SG0.html
Someone at work sent this notice around to us on 10/29/03 02:25 PM:
Interesting RedLightGreen tidbit of the day. As of the last time I checked, there have been 62 different sessions which searched for the term "memes". And it isn't one of the links on the front page.
We'll be working on that -- it's important!