One way to get the serendipity of "articles that catch your eye" is to subscribe to email notifications or TOCs of journals in your field.
Jane Shevtsov On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 2:35 PM, Ruhland, Christopher T < [email protected]> wrote: > I certainly can see the need to keep paper journals, but the reality of > the situation is that I spend more time reading PDFs of papers (or PDFs > that I've printed) than I do actual *bound* journals. As a graduate > student, I used to walk across campus and spend every Friday afternoon in > the library reading the latest journals directly of the racks. Of course I > was limited to the journals that my library happened to subscribe to, but > at least I was keeping up with most of the newest findings in my field. > > As technology progressed, I then spent every Friday morning on the Web of > Science looking up keywords and limiting my search to papers published > within the past 14 days or so. The ability to find papers published in > journals I didn't even know existed was very exciting. I'd then get a PDF > of the paper, and I wouldn't even have to leave my lab. It's been a while > since I was required to <heaven forbid> walk over to the library and pull a > journal off the shelf. Technology sure is wonderful. > > That being said, I only read what my key-word searches bring me now a > days, and I miss the articles that would catch my eye (even though they had > nothing to do with my field). I sure do miss those Friday afternoons in > the library somedays..... > > Cheers > > Chris > > > > Christopher T. Ruhland, Ph.D. > > Professor of Biological Sciences > Department of Biology > TS 242 Trafton Sciences Center South > Minnesota State University > Mankato, MN 56001 > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto: > [email protected]] On Behalf Of David L. McNeely > Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2012 4:07 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Ecology (the journal) stalled? > > ---- Lonnie Aarssen <[email protected]> wrote: > > I wonder if Don Strong would explain to us why Ecology is still > > publishing on paper? No ecologist that I know reads paper journals > > anymore, and hasn't for years. > > I read paper journals, and I have for years. i hope to be able to > continue to do so. > > And libraries > > everywhere are cancelling their paper subscriptions and supporting > > only electronic journal subscriptions. > > Libraries are doing everything they can to corral costs, mainly because of > the political climate that is withdrawing funding from education and > research support. The fact that they are cancelling paper journals has > nothing to do with the desirability of keeping them. > > When we have only digital information, tell me how that information will > be guaranteed into the future? One of the functions of libraries is > curation of the knowledge we have accumulated. In the 60 year lifetime of > digital information storage and retrieval the media of choice have changed > more times than I care to try to count, from paper punched tapes and cards, > to tape, and so on, with multiple ways of reading those media. Most of > them can no longer be read. > > >In the news this week we > > also learned that Encyclopedia Britannica has decided to publish its > > last print edition this year, with only online editions available in > > the future. > > Encyclopedia Britannica is not a journal. > > > > > Is it not time for Ecology to do the same? > > No. > > >The > > advantages seem obvious. If Ecology "has a limited number of pages > >that the ESA can afford to publish", then why not simply break free > >from this limitation by publishing electronically only? The > >ecological community could then benefit from a greater number of high > >quality Ecology articles. > > and the disadvantages are also obvious. > > BTW, I have paper journals on my bookshelves that I have cherished for > years. I hope to keep them until I pass them on to a library that is more > understanding of its curatorial role than those you admire so. > > mcneely > -- ------------- Jane Shevtsov Ecology Ph.D. candidate, University of Georgia co-founder, www.worldbeyondborders.org "She has future plans and dreams at night. They tell her life is hard; she says 'That's all right'." --Faith Hill, "Wild One"
