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At the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology there is a
silent auction using donated items. This is a fund raiser for the society.
A wide range of things appear at the silent auction. casts, reprints,
T-shirts, etc. When SVP asked members what item they would want more of at
the auction, the overwhelming response was -- reprints!
Dan
Daniel J. Chure, Ph.D.
Dinosaur National Monument
Box 92
Jensen UT 84035
Ph (Mon & Thurs): 435-781-7703
Ph (Tues & Wed): 435-789-9516
Fax 435-789-6159
JAMES STJOHN
<stjohn.2@osu.edu To: PaleoNet@nhm.ac.uk
> cc: (bcc: Dan Chure/DINO/NPS)
Sent by: Subject: paleonet report on reprint
paleonet-owner@nh give-aways
m.ac.uk
06/21/2004 10:29
AM AST
Please respond to
paleonet
To all Paleonetters,
Hi everyone. I’ve offered some paleo. & paleo.-related reprints and books
in the past year or so.
Someone suggested I send out a brief report concerning the extent to which
the reprints & books found new owners - the idea being that everyone could
see which subject areas were most requested (& which areas of paleo.
research are of most interest).
My initial stashes of articles are fairly faithful cross-sections of
paleontology - all geologic ages, from microfossils to inverts. to verts.
to plants to problematica to evolutionary theory to history of geology. My
posted lists of reprints don’t quite represent the initial diversity of
research topic. I personally take the Cambrian ones, most trilobite items,
some history of geology items, and any soft-bodied fossil papers I don’t
already have. I also sometimes let a couple friends of mine have a first
crack at items they’re interested in. Even after this, there remains a
fairly complete cross-section of paleo. articles.
I’m pleased to report that every item, from every one of my posted
listings, has found a new home with various people around the world. Only
once did a batch of Chinese fusulinid foram articles not get initially
taken. But, they did eventually end up in someone’s personal library.
It’s difficult to say which fossil group is most requested - all articles
get picked up quickly & all get requested by many people. Unfortunately, I
usually only have one copy to send out. Foram, mollusc, vertebrate, and
paleobotany items all see heavy demand.
Some items that saw heavy request demands were quite understandable - a few
original Burgess Shale things, original Cushman foram articles, etc.
But, I’ve been surprised at the demand for things that I would consider
rather esoteric.
I’ve gotten many reprint requests from Australia, Europe, South America,
North America, Central America, and occasionally from Africa and
southeastern/southern/far-eastern Asia. Requests have been from all kinds
of folks - university professors/researchers, research institute personnel,
pre-college teachers, industry geologists, national & state geological
survey personnel, master’s students, Ph.D. students, post-docs, &
retired/private citizens.
I’m not sure if this provides any insight into the health of paleontology.
At the least, all it indicates is that people like getting free things (so
do I). And, it does indicate to me that there is a way to distribute
reprints & discards & retired personal libraries that don’t find heirs.
Perhaps a formal organization somewhere in the world might consider picking
up on this in some way? I’m not sure how if that might work or not.
Suggestions? Agree? Disagree?
Best,
James St. John
stjohn.2@osu.edu
________________________________________
James St. John
Founders Hall 156A
1179 University Drive
Ohio State University at Newark
Newark, Ohio 43055 USA
___________________________________________
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