THE DIRECTORY OF EXPERTS, AUTHORITIES & SPOKESPERSONS 7th edition<i> (Broadcast Interview Source, 2233 Wisconsin Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20007; price varies with format) </i>

Did you ever wonder where television news departments find experts to interview on the most obscure topics within moments after an unforeseeable event? Flipping through this variation on the Yellow Pages theme--associations and businesses appear here in display ads as well as in cross-referenced listings--offers at a thumb’s riffle a cross section of every current and eddy in this society. Most of these groups certainly sell their expertise, although the Philip Morris U.S.A. Speakers Bureau proudly offers its services gratis. Hot issues no doubt expand and contract certain categories from year to year; recycling happily is represented by a wide variety of groups. The section on experts available to speak on abortion is quite lengthy, and this year for the first time, the directory compilers report, the positions of both opponents of abortion abortion-rights advocates were integrated. (Will this give either position an advantage, one wonders, or will it result in confusion?) True to the spirit of the information age, the directory is available in various formats: as a paperback book (736 pp. for $37.25), as a computer database ($225) and in a Rolodex version ($450).