E-Journals, was Re: Correction, I hope, of M/C URL

Ty Power wrote:

> In answer to the question of length constraints in an electronic
> journal, though, there are a couple of relevant considerations. One
> is that (most) people are (generally) reluctant to read large texts on
Speaking from the other end of the web chain, as a librarian taking
part in a large e-journal access project, I can say that there are
as many variables as there are journals.  Constraints may be because
they are given limited space, it may reside on a personal machine,
there may be limited manpower for editing, etc., etc.  Most of the
e-journals that I deal with are simply the online versions of
paper journals.  We have seen far too many of the published online
only type simply disappear when the editors lose interest, change
jobs, or whatever.


> In addition, what I find most disturbing with long texts online and
> which has been documented as one of the biggest problems with
> the Web, is the sense of unlimited information. This can really
I totally agree but I think for different reasons.  As a reference
librarian, the web is almost (the key word is ALMOST) always the
very last place I will look for information.  In my library instruction
classes I make a point of leading people down the path of comparing
how many books are online, how many issues of how many journals, how
many pages are personal vanity pages, .com pages and so on.  Then I
tell them that far from 'everything being available on the web'
almost nothing is available compared to even a modest library.

I think part of the problem is a continued evolution of reality
perception.  For many of my generation, things were more real
if they were on television. For many younger people, they are more
real on a computer screen.
--
Brad Coon
bcoon@imt.net
PLEASE NOTE,NEW EMAIL ADDRESS

If its tourist season, why can't we shoot them?