---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 11:46:12 -0400
From: Albert Henderson <chessNIC@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject: Re: Arranging academic periodicals (David Goodman)

on Wed, 2 May 2001 David Goodman <dgoodman@Princeton.EDU> wrote:

Your last paragraph is an interesting possibility, because of the same
question with  electronic journals. There the very high use found for
previously unsubscribed titles is various ascribed to a/random curiosity
or b/ true increased use. The same qy appears here.
For ejournals, I have repeatedly argued that it's a/ rather than b/ .
And I would guess the same here.  But the correlation is fascinating.

        Browsing -- systematic searching aimed at discovery --
        is a time-honored method of study and scholarship. It
        is a method that information technology, with its
        ability to locate specific terms, has eclipsed. Yet
        this technology has not figured out how to discover
        the buzzwords and jargon not yet unidentified. The
        closest it comes is through modern citation indexes
        and old-fashioned classificatation.

        In my view, browsing is true use.

        Best wishes,

Albert Henderson
<70244.1532@compuserve.com>