Kentucky Coffee Tree

[klier at iscsvax.uni.edu]

>> stodola at fccc.edu -- Robert K. Stodola (occasionally) speaks for himself.
In article <1ovcbr$hvt at gabriel.keele.ac.uk>, u9a36 at seq1.keele.ac.uk (S Booth) writes:
>> Would you suggest that University libraries restrict
>> access to WAIS/Gopher/Archie servers, as well?
> 
> I agree.  The net I think should be seen as as valid a resource for "book 
> research" as the library.  Speaking as a student who has just had to complete
> a long project report on an obscure topic (the antimicrobial effects of Aqueous
> Garlic extract) being able to get access to a resource and being able to ask if
> anyone else was doing anything similar an could they point me in the direction
> of some references would have been very useful.  Unfortunately by the time I found out about this newsgroup I was already half way trhough writing the report.

I see a big difference between using the WAIS/gopher/archie servers to
locate information, and using the expertise of a newsgroup INSTEAD of 
trying to find some of the information yourself from sources at hand.

E.g., I see a major difference between "I have to write a paper on 
Lily of the valley.  Please send me any and all references."  and,
"I'm doing a paper on Lily of the Valley, Convallaria majus.  I'm having
trouble finding information on convallarotoxin, though I
have found Alpha and Beta's 1978 Phytochemistry article and Gamma's 1932
paper in Science.  Can someone suggest other sources I should be checking?"

The second shows that the person has tried to find some of the information,
but has been stymied on one or a few questions.

The point of this student's assignment was to not only learn about
Gymnocladus, but to learn how to locate information on a particular
species.  How do I know that?  I checked with the prof who made the
assignment.

Kay Klier  Biology Dept  UNI