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Information About Publishers

The prices listed in this Sourcebook are an approximate guide to what you will have to pay. While these prices were all accurate at one time, fluctuations in the international exchange rates, changes by publishers, rising postal rates, and inflation make it impossible to provide completely accurate price information in a printed book.

Many of these publications are offered by small appropriate technology groups. They are often quite willing to trade publications with other groups, avoiding the problem of acquiring foreign currency, additional bank charges, and so forth. Readers facing problems obtaining foreign exchange can also try to obtain UNESCO coupons from the local UNESCO office. UNESCO coupons can be purchased with local currency, and can be used to buy books from overseas. Most publishers accept UNESCO coupons as payment.

The prices listed here sometimes include surface postage. Airmail postage will often double the cost of a book. Airmail may be necessary, however, when it is important to avoid the delay of 6 weeks to 4 months (depending on location) involved in surface mail.

Some of the publications have gone out of print since they were first reviewed. These items are noted in the text. They represent less than 10 percent of the books in this collection. These out of print books are reproduced as part of the A.T. Library.

For most of the more than 1000 publications reviewed in this book, the ordering address has been included with the review. For some organizations that have multiple publications listed, we have used an abbreviated name only. This is not intended to be a list of the "best" publishers and appropriate technology organizations, but merely a means of saving a lot of unnecessary repetition. The addresses are:

AHRTAG Appropriate Health Resources and Technologies Action Group. They publish books on health care and disability aids. AHRTAG, Three Castles House, 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 95E, England.

BRACE Brace Research Institute. Their particular focus is on water supply for arid regions. Publications Dept., Brace Research Institute, MacDonald College of McGill University, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec H0A lC0, Canada.

CWD Consultancy Services Wind Energy Developing Countries. Research institutes in the Third World may ask for one copy of any of their publications free of charge. CWD has now merged with TOOL, but its publications (primarily related to helping Third World organizations with efforts to use wind energy) are still available from CWD, P.O. Box 85, 3800 AB Amersfoort, The Netherlands.

Dept. of Works (previously referred to as DWS) Department of Works, Papua New Guinea. They have a limited number of the publications reviewed here, some of them priced and some of them available free to serious groups in developing countries. Expect a small fee to cover postage. Please do not send personal checks on private banks. Department of Works, Local Government Technical Services, P.O. Box 1108, Boroko, Papua New Guinea.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Clearinghouse. If you are not a Peace Corps volunteer, this is the place to get Peace Corps publications. ERIC, Document Reproduction Service, 3900 Wheeler Avenue, Alexandria, Virginia 22304-5110.

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Many of their publications are available through FAO book distributors in developing countries. UNIPUB is their exclusive sales agent for the U.S. and Canada, and should be consulted for correct prices in these countries. To order outside North America, write to Distribution and Sales Section, FAO, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy.

GATE German Appropriate Technology Exchange. Has a variety of English language publications documenting technologies of interest in developing countries. Publications are free to institutions in developing countries, which should order from GATE/GTZ, Postfach 5180, D-6236 Eschborn, Germany. Industrialized countries should send orders to GATE, c/o Vieweg Verlag, Postfach 300944,D-5090 Leverkusen 3, Germany.

GRET Groupe de Recherche et d'Echanges Technologiques. This organization has an extensive set of French language publications on appropriate technologies. GRET, 213 rue La Fayette, 75010 Paris, France.

IDRC International Development Research Center. This Canadian aid organization has consistently produced valuable books on subjects of interest to village technology workers. Unlike their counterparts to the south, IDRC has people from developing countries on their board. Their publications are free to local people in developing countries. All of these publications are available in microfiche form from the Communications Division. IDRC has sales agents and regional offices around the world. IDRC, Box 8500, Ottawa, Ontario K1G 3H9, Canada.

ILO Publications, International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland. The U.S. branch office also has most ILO books available for sale: ILO Publications Center, 49 Sheridan Avenue, Albany, New York 12210, USA.

IRC--International Reference Centre for Community Water Supply and Sanitation. This special unit of the World Health Organization has produced many valuable water supply books. IRC, P.O. Box 93190, 2509 AD The Hague, The Netherlands.

ITDG Intermediate Technology Development Group. This organization, founded by the late F. F. Schumacher in the 1960s, has produced the largest selection of books on appropriate technology, while setting a standard of quality equaled by few. Many of ITDG's books can be obtained in the U.S. from their distributor (ITDG of North America, P.O. Box 337, Croton-on-Hudson, New York 10520, USA). For a current publications list, write to I.T. Publications, 103-105 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4HH, United Kingdom.

NRI National Resources Institute (formerly TDRI, Tropical Development and Research Institute). NRI produces a variety of publications on tropical agricultural products, and a series of booklets on simple processing tools (Rural TechnologyGuides). No charge is made for single copies of publications sent to governmental and educational establishments, research institutions and non-profit organizations working in countries eligible for British aid. Publications Section, Natural Resources Institute, Central Avenue, Chatham Maritime, Chatham, Kent ME4 4TB, United Kingdom.

NTIS National Technical Information Service. This U.S. government organization reprints many of the publications originally produced by other government agencies. For example, this is where things can be found when they have gone out of print at the National Academy of Sciences. Most of this material is available on microfiche, but unfortunately the original microfilming of most of these documents was not of high quality. Paper copies are usually reproduced from these microfiche originals, and are therefore both expensive and often not very clear. Some documents are now available free or at lower cost through U.S. Agency for International Development missions in Caribbean and Latin American nations, in a special arrangement. NTIS is represented by local sales agents in about 20 different countries. When ordering from NTIS, you must include the "accession number" listed with the review, or they may not be able to find the item you want from among the vast collection of documents they have in storage. Orders should be sent to NTIS, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Virginia 22161, USA.

Peace Corps Peace Corps Information Collection and Exchange, 1990 K Street N.W., Washington, DC 20526, USA.

Popular Mechanics These are photocopies of articles on homebuilt workshop equipment that originally appeared in Popular Mechanics magazine. The photos do not reproduce very well, but the drawings are generally clear. The plans are at times rather brief; it is assumed that the reader has some familiarity with shop power tools. All of the designs include small electric motors, and use commonly available materials of standard sizes. Minimal skills are required for production. The durability of this equipment will vary. Include the item’s reference number when ordering. Popular Mechanics Plans, Dept. 77, Box 1014, Radio City, New York 10101, USA.

SATIS Socially Appropriate Technology International Services, B.P. 2664, Dakar, Senegal.

SDC Swiss Development Cooperation (formerly SATA, Swiss Association for Technical Assistance). This organization is now handled by SKAT, but publications are available from SDC, P.O. Box 113, Katmandu, Nepal.

SKAT Swiss Center for Appropriate Technology. They publish books based on aid projects in various parts of the world. SKAT, Vadian Strasse, CH-9000 St. Gallen,Switzerland.

TALC Teaching Aids at Low Cost. An excellent source of low-cost books in the health care field. TALC, P.O. Box 49, St. Albans, Herts. AL1 4AX, United Kingdom.

TOOL The TOOL Foundation for Technical Development in Developing Countries has members on many university campuses in The Netherlands. They offer publications in English, Dutch and French, and publish a newsletter in Dutch for people working in developing countries. TOOL, Sarphatistraat 650, 1018 AVAmsterdam, The Netherlands.

UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Most of theUNIDO publications reviewed here are available free of charge to readers in developing countries. Quote the publication number with the title. DocumentsUnit, UNIDO F-355, P.O. Box 300, A1400 Vienna, Austria.

UNIPUB This U.S. company handles a large number of United Nations publications, along with those of other international organizations such as FAO and IDRC. UNIPUB, 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, Maryland 20706-4391, USA.

USGPO United States government Printing Office. In contrast to the high prices of NTIS, USGPO has very low prices. Make checks payable to Superintendent to Documents. USGPO, Washington, DC 20402, USA.

VITA Volunteers in Technical Assistance. This group does not send volunteers, but handles requests for technical information, which it forwards to a network of U.S.-based volunteers for response. They have a long publications list, and accept UNESCO coupons in payment. Overseas orders should add $3.00 for surface mail and $5.00 for airmail per title ordered. VITA Publications Services, P.O. Box 12028,Arlington, Virginia 22209, USA.

WEA Whole Earth Access Company. These people stock books from many of the small U.S. publishers, allowing you to obtain them from a single source. Whole Earth Access, 2990 7^th Street, Berkeley, California 94710, USA.

WHO World Health Organization. They offer a discount on orders from developing countries. WHO Distribution and Sales, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland.