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Tom DeVrie writes: > David Schwimmer suggests that e-journals will introduce undesirable novelties > in taxonomic citations, e.g., > > _Xiphactinus audax_ Leidy, 1870, p. 212, fig. 23 > _Portheus molossus_ (Cope, 1871), p. 45, fig XI > _ X. audax_, Weasel, 1996, HTTP://www.taxolist.ggg.edu >> > An http address should not be included as part of a formal citation. Would > you include a library address in a traditional citation (e.g., Smith, 1996. > My article, Journal of Paleontology, 234(32):16-45, UC-Berkeley Library, 76 > Orange St., Berkeley, CA 00000)? Perhaps my example was unclear. I meant that formal synonymy would have to include mixed data bases, including paper and electronic formats. This admixture will be complex, more so than at present, and to whatb advantage? Another point: electronic media is more plastic than paper: one reader's "page 3" may be anoither's page 4 depending on printer or computer specs. And since at present we use precise locations for figured and described material, what is to be done in the future? > E-journals should be found many places, as paper journals are. It is not up > to the author to tell the reader where copies can be found. Rather, it is > the responsibility of the knowledgeable and ingenious reader to discover the > location where the journal resides. My point exactly, another level of added complexity, which we don't need. > Of course, the reader should expect that the e-journal will be found in > predictable places. I doubt this will happen, observing the nature, diversity, and near- chaos of the Web at presernt. >Libraries will periodically > have to update their storage formats, hardware, and software Our librarians hate this notion, given cinstant budget squeezes. Isn't this the reason we are looking for *cheaper* means to publish?. > Formats may improve with time, making older files seem antiquated, but the > same is true looking back two hundred years when one compares line drawings > with photographs. But I can look back 130 years and still use (and do use) old papers as easily accessed data. I don't need Windows .0003 to access Leidy, 1864 or Cope, 1871, or even Linne, 1759. David Schwimmer Dep't of Chemistry & Geology Columbus College, Columbus GA 31907-5645 schwimmer_david@cc.csg.peachnet.edu No, I'm not Ross.
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