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Tom DeVrie makes a number of good points on accommodating
electronic journal citations in response to my complaints. However,
I still take mild issue with the following:
> As for access - I don't need software to read the old literature either, but
> I do have to spend hundreds of dollars to travel to a library that has that
> old literature, if I want to look at it in person. I'd rather sit in my own
> office and read it there on-line.
I teach and work at a miniscule university, with few library resources
beyond my own reference collection. Yet, I can obtain either
original or xeroxed materials from virtually anywhere by inter-library
loans (ILL). It takes about a week if I ask nicely at the ILL desk,
its very cheap, and they will try to obtain originals when I need
photographic plates for reference. A colleague and I did a fairly
sizeable book about 10 years ago for which we ILL'ed about 2/3 of the
works in a 29p bibliography.
In the same vein, when I need specimens for comparative work, I
find registered US mail quite satisfactory (except, perhaps for
really big or fragile stuff). I save museum travel for survey and
special subjects.
So, I can sit at my desk, and scan several comparative photos and
pages at once, without requiring several monitors. Perhaps I'm too
underived academically to appreciate receiving images on-screen,
but I find that print media work and e-media, as of yet, do not, for
at least systematic paleontology.
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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