In physics research, many activities occur backstage or to continue the theatrical metaphor, in the wings of physics. This book focuses on two such activities: the editing of physics journals and the operation of physical societies.The author was editor of Physics Letters B for particle physics and then of Physics Reports for a total of 18 years, as well as being president of the French Physical Society and later of the European Physical Society.This book puts together papers dealing with such activities which he has written at various times in his career. It takes the reader into the inner circles of scientific editing and of physical societies. Each introduced by a foreword, these papers can be read separately.

The present volume covers the story of the history of CERN from the mid 1960s to the late 1970s. The book is organized in three main parts. The first, containing contributions by historians of science, perceives the laboratory as being at the node of a complex of interconnected relationships between scientists and science managers on the staff, the users in the member states, and the governments which were called upon to finance the organization. Parts II and III include chapters by practising scientists. The former surveys the theoretical and experimental physics results obtained at CERN in this period, while the latter describes the development of the laboratory's accelerator complex and Charpak detection techniques.

This book introduces readers to the principles underlying digital libraries, illustrating these principles by reference to a wide range of digital library practices throughout the world. Individual chapters deal with issues such as: digital library users and the services that are offered to them, the standards and protocols with which digital libraries must operate in order to cooperate with other institutions, and issues such as the administration of digital libraries, including discussion of intellectual property rights and preservation issues. A final chapter comprises eight case studies drawn from all over the world, used to illustrate points made in earlier chapters. Throughout the book, the challenges of developing and implementing digital library systems in multilingual and multicultural environments are explored.