Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2001 15:18:26 -0400 From: Kathleen Weessies <[log in to unmask]> Subject: RE: Bell & Howell Sanborn's I bought the maps to Michigan only. It was about $11,900 to purchase outright, though we also have to pay $500 per year after that for them to maintain the interface. We could have developed our own interface and not paid the $500 maintenance. We also could have simply subscribed to the Michigan maps for $3,000 per year. I thought the one-time purchase was a better deal. The entire U.S. was $96,760, but that is a special "pre-pub" price good through the end of 2001. Other states had other prices, for instance Illinois $16,200 with a $500 annual fee. Minnesota was the bargain of the Big Ten at $7,350 and a $350 annual fee. When I asked exactly which years are available for which towns, the salesman mailed me a photocopy of the pertinent pages from "Fire Insurance Maps in the Library of Congress" (which I already own). My feelings about the database are very mixed. I didn't have the fiche, so this is a new "better than nothing" collection for me. The access mechanism is VERY awkward, and the images are small .gifs (or equally fuzzy PDFs, depending on which button you push). I ask my printer to blow each page out to 11" x 17" to add some visibility, but the product is still less than ideal. I made a little tutorial for my student workers, but keep in mind it is tailored specifically to my situation. Kathleen Weessies Maps/GIS Librarian 100 Library 308 Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 48824-1048 517-432-9669 [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Johnnie Sutherland [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2001 2:38 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Bell & Howell Sanborn's <fwd> --- Begin Forwarded Message --- Date: Tue, 09 Oct 2001 09:25:00 -0400 From: David Cobb <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Bell & Howell Sanborn's Sender: David Cobb <[log in to unmask]> Colleagues - Is anyone subscribing to the Bell & Howell Sanborn maps? I suspect these are not "inexpensive" since I can find no cost information searching the Bell & Howell site. Does anyone have information on their service and/or their quality? David Cobb *************************************************************************** David A. Cobb Tel. 617.495.2417 Harvard Map Collection FAX 617.496.0440 Harvard College Library Email: [log in to unmask] Cambridge, MA 02138 HTTP://hcl.harvard.edu/maps ************************** VERITAS **************************************** --- End Forwarded Message --- --- End Forwarded Message ---