[Taxacom] Questions re sharing bibliographic resources

[Bob Mesibov]

We are moving towards this in myriapodology. Several very keen German
workers have created a database called MyriaLit

http://www.myriapoden-info.de/MyriaLit/

covering the entire literature. There are Web pages with citations, a
searchable database maintained by the compilers, periodic
version-releases on CD-ROM, and a PDF-and-image library which (I
understand) now includes scans of about 1/3 of the 14500+ works,
including entire books. The compilers are aiming to have the digital
library in a form which will allow full-text searches.

MyriaLit is also linked to the SysTax facility

http://www.biologie.uni-ulm.de/systax/

There are two serious obstacles to MyriaLit becoming a one-stop shop for
the myriapod literature. The first is copyright. You can get scans of
copyrighted works from the compilers on request on the usual terms
(study purposes only, not for redistribution), but the scanned works
will not be put on the Web. The second obstacle is money. MyriaLit is
largely a labour of love by under-employed specialists.
-- 
Dr Robert Mesibov
Honorary Research Associate
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
and School of Zoology, University of Tasmania
Home contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316
Ph (03) 64371195; 61 3 64371195
Webpage: http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/mesibov.html