[SCC_Active_Members] FYI: Reviving 25 CS books - by ACM

[Allison Akbay]

Our archivist Paula Jabloner is already checking to make sure we have
the 25 books, any we don't have will be added to our wish list on our
donation pages.  Please let us know where to access the 420 book list
and we will move forward with that list as well.

 

Best regards,

 

Allison Akbay
Registrar 
Computer History Museum
1401 North Shoreline Boulevard
Mountain View, CA 94043-1311 

Tel:  650 810 1022
Fax:  650 810 1055
E-m: akbay at computerhistory.org
WWW: http://www.computerhistory.org

________________________________

From: scc_active-bounces at computerhistory.org
[mailto:scc_active-bounces at computerhistory.org] On Behalf Of Bernard
Peuto
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 9:55 AM
To: 'Gust, Kathe'; 'SCC active'
Subject: RE: [SCC_Active_Members] FYI: Reviving 25 CS books - by ACM

 

SCC friends

 

It would seem to me that it would be a good idea to make sure that:

 

 1) we have the 25 originals books in our collection with more papers
and documents from the authors (and if not ask for donations of them)

 

2) get the list of the 420 books and make sure that we have them in the
collection with more papers and documents from the authors (and if not
ask for donations of them)

 

3) There may be an overlap of interest and initiative in this matter so
we should avoid duplication with the ACM but find ways to collaborate
more with them on this initiative (at least)

 

Suggestions and opinions.

Bernard

 

________________________________

From: scc_active-bounces at computerhistory.org
[mailto:scc_active-bounces at computerhistory.org] On Behalf Of Gust, Kathe
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2006 11:38 AM
To: SCC active
Subject: [SCC_Active_Members] FYI: Reviving 25 CS books - by ACM

This just out.

Kathe

 

 

President's letter: Reviving your favorite CS books
David A. Patterson  

Last October we announced a program to put 20 out-of-print books into
ACM's Digital Library and to make print copies of these books available
at a low price via a print-on-demand service (CACM, Oct. 2005, 15-16).
We were overwhelmed by the response to the call for nominations, so it
took a bit longer than expected to determine the actual titles, to
confirm they were out of print, and to create an interface to vote for
20 books from 402 choices. In fact, we've renamed the program to "ACM
Members' Favorite Books" since it reflects the process we followed.

To help you make an informed decision, we tried a 10-day campaign period
where people could comment on books via a wiki set up for each title
(see pd.acm.org/classics). You will find many testimonials about how a
book changed a person's life, or noting the timelessness of a book
despite the year it was written. Members made wiki-based comments on
about 80% of the books. The entries certainly affected my vote and have
suggested books that I now want to read.

The table here shows the top 25 books based on electronic ballots from
thousands of members. More members voted electronically for favorite
books than they did for candidates in the last ACM election! These
finalists are certainly an impressive collection. ACM Fellows or ACM
Turing Award laureates wrote the majority of the books; they cover many
areas of computer science, and the publication dates range from 1958 to
1995. We are now in the process of contacting the holders of these
copyrights. (If you know whom to contact, please send email to
classicbooks at acm.org.) Once we've placed the books in the DL and make
arrangements with a books-on-demand publisher, we'll let you know the
next step.

A few members have already written to say it's obvious that we need to
expand the list. (I agree, since only half of the books I voted for made
the cut!) Let's think of this round as a beta test. If the books prove
to be popular, and members are happy with the process, I'm sure ACM will
expand the offerings.

I'd like to thank everyone who participated in this inaugural project,
especially ACM's Wayne Graves and Mark Mandelbaum, who were handed a
much larger task than any of us anticipated. -David A. Patterson

Table. The top 25 (out of print) classic CS books as voted by ACM
members.

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