RE: Print vs. Electronic and making electronic more accessible

[Tom.Hughes, Mass Environmental Library <Thomas.Hughes@state.ma.us>]

First,as others have said. No one format fits all. No one format should be relied on for everything or ruled out for anything.  We just need to work on delivering all formats more effectively and efficiently.  Printed documents should be provided through public libraries either directly with electronic bibliographic information available for downloading into automated catalogues, or indirectly by linking in with public library regional catalogs and making them available via Inter Library Loan or Document Delivery. 

Electronic information should be provided in multiple formats. This is not just important for reading and printing the documents, but for finding them as well.  There is no one site, including EPA's, that can ever make everything available in so organized a fashion that everything can be found with a click. There are so many attempts to put it all together now, many of which are mentioned elsewhere in this dialogue.  All these separate clearinghouses
are great, but you need to have an idea on where the answer is before you can find it.  In the end, we need to focus on finding the answer based on the question and not on where the answer is.  By making full documents or at least detailed summaries available in html, you make it easier for the researcher to find the answer through the use of a search engine that indexes the full text.  I continue to rely on a few search engines, primarily altavista, to locate information, and often find that the most difficult information to locate is available in Acrobat only.  For these docs, you have to hit the metadata terms find the answer.  Also, these publications should also be catalogued, linking with public library catalogs and providing the URL in the bibliographic record.

This would mean that someone going to a local library could come up with the document information and a means to access it by searching the public library catalog, regardless of the format or location of the document.

We need to remember that everyone has learned from an early age to use libraries, librarians, and library catalogues to find information when they need it. We need to work within the library systems that already exist to provide access to information in addition to relying on new systems that require more intensive outreach and training.