I recently attempted to find an English translation of a German
title to help with a request on another list.
I was pleased to find that the British Library catalog access
was smooth, so long as I remembered their opening hours
(10 p.m to 6 p.m CST).
I was better pleased to find that the Library of Congress has now
implemented a search system that has eliminated arcane code
conventions and works quite smoothly.
But after trying these and several university resources I had
not found the reference. In cases like this, the "WorldCat" is a
resource that can turn up pointers to thousands of other international
library stacks.
Trouble is, this is a commercial - or at least, a paid-access resource.
I hope that educators all have a WorldCat access available to them,
at least.
I believe that another Carnegie is needed to fund some modest public
access here - it is unrealistic to expect academic sites to fund public
access via the Internet - the potential for heavy use is clear.
On the topic of public benefactors, I was pleased to find that
Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are now noticeably beginning to make
generous gestures in this direction, not least the much-reviled Bill
Gates.
Another encouraging straw in the wind was provided by a news snippet
in the past week announcing that an OK State committee which recently
moved to have waivers attached to biology texts (on the topic of the
unproven and unGodly nature of Darwinian evolution), was found in
conflict with the requirements of an Open Meetings act in that no notice
of their intent was (apparently) provided. Their edict is apparently
under review.