Serious Research Means A Serious Library

[fossilcrazy]

I never meant for it to be this way, but it seems my Paleolibrary books out number my fossils. These days my wife really does think I'm crazy. Personally I think it's a natural response, if you have a fossil and you want to know about it, you get a book about it. If you want to know where to find a particular fossil, you buy a book that will tell you. She says "that's what they make libraries for." Sounds good in theory until you go to the library and they don't have it.

It all started about 15 years ago when I went to the library to get a reference book about local WNY fossils, It was titled "Geology and Paleontology of 18 Milecreek and Vicinity" by Amadeus Grabau 1898. When I asked for the book the librarian said I cannot borrow the book it is a reference only. OK, I'll read it here. The woman sat right next to me and wasn't going to let it leave her sight. Then and there I vowed I would have my own copy of that book. What non-sense. A reader can't be trusted with a book just because it was over a hundred years old! Today I have 2 copies, one original and one reprint. So there lady! It has been a spiraling whirl of purchasing since then. Hey what can I say, some men drink, some men smoke, some men gamble, some men swear and some men hunt for women. I buy books. Is that so bad? I try not to think about the money I dished out for my Paleolibrary; instead I read and enjoy.

This is a complete set of Treatise of Invertebrate Paleontology. Unless you are only interested in Dinos

it is a must.

My wall has great accustics! Books make a good sound dampening effect.

Edited September 13, 2011 by fossilcrazy

[Auspex]

I chose to specialize in fossil birds for a number of reasons, one of which being that I don't have much room to house the collection. I badly underestimated the book part...

[Sinopaleus]

the ENTIRE treatise of invertebrate paleontology???!!!!!

[pleecan]

Wow John... I have got a museum of fossils and a reference library to boot!

[siteseer]

I understand completely. I have at least six fileboxes full of photocopies and reprints of paleo articles and numerous original journal issues/bulletins/volumes plus two medium bookcases and some closet storage of books with more books still packed from the last move. That doesn't count what's piled on top of the fileboxes and bookcases.

I picked up a lot of it before PDF's and the internet but I still can't resist photocopying something interesting and it's still a thrill to find a nice paleo/natural history book for less than $10.

One of my friends has an incredible paleo library in storage that I would like to see and another is renovating his house so he had to temporarily pack up his fantastic natural history library. I used to take my time just looking at the titles (old stuff, obscure stuff, hard-to-get stuff, and the cool new stuff).

Yeah, the average public library does what it can but it has mostly only the most popular paleo books of the time and they rotate out over time. When I started collecting fossils, it became obvious that I wasn't going to come close to understanding my own collection whether the focus was on one phylum or class or smaller group if I didn't build my own library as well.

I never meant for it to be this way, but it seems my Paleolibrary books out number my fossils. These days my wife really does think I'm crazy. Personally I think it's a natural response, if you have a fossil and you want to know about it, you get a book about it. If you want to know where to find a particular fossil, you buy a book that will tell you. She says "that's what they make libraries for." Sounds good in theory until you go to the library and they don't have it.

It all started about 15 years ago when I went to the library to get a reference book about local WNY fossils, It was titled "Geology and Paleontology of 18 Milecreek and Vicinity" by Amadeus Grabau 1898. When I asked for the book the librarian said I cannot borrow the book it is a reference only. OK, I'll read it here. The woman sat right next to me and wasn't going to let it leave her sight. Then and there I vowed I would have my own copy of that book. What non-sense. A reader can't be trusted with a book just because it was over a hundred years old! Today I have 2 copies, one original and one reprint. So there lady! It has been a spiraling whirl of purchasing since then. Hey what can I say, some men drink, some men smoke, some men gamble, some men swear and some men hunt for women. I buy books. Is that so bad? I try not to think about the money I dished out for my Paleolibrary; instead I read and enjoy.

This is a complete set of Treatise of Invertebrate Paleontology. Unless you are only interested in Dinos

it is a must.

My wall has great accustics! Books make a good sound dampening effect.

[fossilcrazy]

I understand completely. I have at least six fileboxes full of photocopies and reprints of paleo articles and numerous original journal issues/bulletins/volumes plus two medium bookcases and some closet storage of books with more books still packed from the last move. That doesn't count what's piled on top of the fileboxes and bookcases.

I picked up a lot of it before PDF's and the internet but I still can't resist photocopying something interesting and it's still a thrill to find a nice paleo/natural history book for less than $10.

One of my friends has an incredible paleo library in storage that I would like to see and another is renovating his house so he had to temporarily pack up his fantastic natural history library. I used to take my time just looking at the titles (old stuff, obscure stuff, hard-to-get stuff, and the cool new stuff).

Yeah, the average public library does what it can but it has mostly only the most popular paleo books of the time and they rotate out over time. When I started collecting fossils, it became obvious that I wasn't going to come close to understanding my own collection whether the focus was on one phylum or class or smaller group if I didn't build my own library as well.

Hi Siteseer,

Glad I'm not alone in wanting a nice scientific article to hold and reference. I do like PDF's a lot and like you, I still make hardcopy that requires filing. I used to beg authors for reprints and have them personalize them. I might have been a wee bit of a pest. Now, I just get free internet copies or buy from a site selling rights to them. To speed up finding digital PDF's or E-Books I have a dedicated hard drive to store the saves files. It works great and fast opening too. Probably like you there is that problem of finding an article you know you have, but can't locate with speed. If you look close at my room pictures, you will notice tape measures on the shelf edges. I use the numbers to keep a listing document to tell me where to find the book I'm searching for. Before I did this, looking for a book was frustrating. Even if I knew what the cover looked like, much time was wasted before I had it in my hands. If you are interested, I could share what I find to be the most comprehensive book sources and good free databases for articles. Keep on Booking! -John

[grampa dino]

I to have a good numbers of fossil type books, most dealing with dinosaur

I now have an E book reader and my collection has since became twice the size

and it takes up less room

[siteseer]

Hi John,

Most authors I have contacted have been happy to send reprints even in these days of PDF's. Usually, I can find what I want in a university library.

I don't see myself switching over to E-books. I don't quite understand playing a game or watching a movie on a phone so maybe part of me is stuck in the 20th century.

Usually, I can find an article quickly (articles are grouped by general subject and then alphabetized by author) as long as I put it away but some of the recently-copied stuff is still lying around in piles.

I haven't seen a tape measure system before but then it would seem similar to library numbering.

Yes, I would like to get your recommendations.

Jess

Hi Siteseer,

Glad I'm not alone in wanting a nice scientific article to hold and reference. I do like PDF's a lot and like you, I still make hardcopy that requires filing. I used to beg authors for reprints and have them personalize them. I might have been a wee bit of a pest. Now, I just get free internet copies or buy from a site selling rights to them. To speed up finding digital PDF's or E-Books I have a dedicated hard drive to store the saves files. It works great and fast opening too. Probably like you there is that problem of finding an article you know you have, but can't locate with speed. If you look close at my room pictures, you will notice tape measures on the shelf edges. I use the numbers to keep a listing document to tell me where to find the book I'm searching for. Before I did this, looking for a book was frustrating. Even if I knew what the cover looked like, much time was wasted before I had it in my hands. If you are interested, I could share what I find to be the most comprehensive book sources and good free databases for articles. Keep on Booking! -John