Maybe you have an amicable relationship with your desktop computer, maybe you don’t. Maybe you exist in a state of symbiotic tension with your computer: You can’t live with it and you can’t live without it. Let’s face it, your PC may be upgraded, but never uprooted.

Sure, the Library has tons of current computer books and manuals (the new age self-help section, with titles like Mastering Excel, Linux for Dummies, or GUI for Geeks) on its shelves, but that’s so 1999. What you really need in this, the 21st Century, is some kind of on-line advice or computer-aided therapy. And the SLAC Library has it. Just go to the Library Web page (http://www.slac.stanford.edu/library).

There you’ll find links to more than 200 full text O’Reilly titles, like the Python Cookbook. (I doubt there is a chapter on capturing a python. You’re on your own there, though one of our staff could research material for you.) You’ll find links to Java, Perl, UNIX, Web, XP, Oracle, Excel, Microsoft Office and other popular computer books.

This offering is a collaboration between the Stanford Libraries and SLAC. All you need is a SLAC IP address to view, search by topic, or print out information from any one of the thousands of books available. The books are searchable by keyword, or you can browse by chapter and subheading. Engineering and technology titles are also available.

Once you see how the Library Web page can improve your man-machine interaction, you are going to want to return again and again.