February 2002

Lee Hadden Writes: \”The magazine, \”The Scientist,\” has several articles and letters of
interest to librarians in recent issues.

In the December 10, 2001 issue, is an article by Isaac Ginsburg on
\”The Disregard Syndrome: A Menace to Honest Science?\” discusses the use of
older information that is not available in electronic format.

This article sparked a series of letters to the editor in the next
issue, January 21, 2002, \”More on the Disregard Syndrome.\”

There is also an article by Eugene Garfield,entitled \”Demand Citation
Vigilance.\” This article can be read online at:


In the February 4, 2002 has a letter on \”The Six Degrees of Medline.\”
See it at:

Finally, this month there is another commentary by Dr. Christian G.
Daughton, \”Literature Forensics: Navigating Through Flotsam, Jetsam and
Lagan.\” The author says,\”

More Below…

Lee Hadden Writes: \”The magazine, \”The Scientist,\” has several articles and letters of
interest to librarians in recent issues.

In the December 10, 2001 issue, is an article by Isaac Ginsburg on
\”The Disregard Syndrome: A Menace to Honest Science?\” discusses the use of
older information that is not available in electronic format.

This article sparked a series of letters to the editor in the next
issue, January 21, 2002, \”More on the Disregard Syndrome.\”

There is also an article by Eugene Garfield,entitled \”Demand Citation
Vigilance.\” This article can be read online at:


In the February 4, 2002 has a letter on \”The Six Degrees of Medline.\”
See it at:

Finally, this month there is another commentary by Dr. Christian G.
Daughton, \”Literature Forensics: Navigating Through Flotsam, Jetsam and
Lagan.\” The author says,\”

More Below…
\”Perhaps the overwhelming scope and depth of the
literature is sufficient to scare many from its
exploration. After all, the Self-Taught Man (in
Jean-Paul Sartre\’s Nausea) set out to systematically
assimilate all that was housed in the library,
starting with the \”As,\” only to discover that new
materials kept appearing in the sections he had just
corralled. Mastering just a small portion of the
literature can be akin to sweeping mercury into a
dustpan. And not to lose sight of what the literature
comprises, peer-reviewed archival publications and
books are but one aspect. There is also the \”gray\”
literature: government and university reports,
theses, technical advertisements, proceedings and
abstracts from scientific meetings, and the dizzying
expanse of the World Wide Web?even the proprietary
holdings of the private sector.\”