CD ROM and WEB publishing

[Mary Barkworth]

Jim's point about the potential of for sharing data is well taken, but it
would also be nice if the few systematists around did not find it
necesssary to make a substantial personal investments in their work before
obtaining the funding to make the information available.
I have no quarrel with the price of either CD.  Societies that publish such
CDs should, perhaps, have a 2-tier pricing structure - members and
non-members.  I do not think it unreasonable for them to eventually
generate funds that can be made available to basic systematic research.
And, speaking for myself, it occurs to me that I should be asking our
library and/or our college computer labs to purchase the CD. I admit that
my initial reaction was simply to forward the message to an entomologist
and leave it at that, but university libraries should be willing to
purchase such items.  I do not think our library would resist - but I need
to show the initiative in recommending the purchase.
Mary Barkworth, Intermountain Herbarium
Department of Biology, Utah State University,
Logan, Utah 84322-5305
Voice: 435-797-1584 FAX: 435-797-1575
Http://www.biology.usu.edu/herbarium/