[Taxacom] Journals / papers collection

[John Grehan]

The answer (in my opinion) is to do what is good for you. If you like
hardcopy and have the space then by all means do that. If you don't, then
convert (or get when already available) pdfs. If you want both for
convenience (e.g. when travelling) then do so. If there is any potential
for sudden change of circumstances where you may not be able to accommodate
all your hard copies then it pays to back up with pdfs. I experienced just
such a situation where I lost a couple of thousand hardcopies of papers due
to lack of resources to keep them. And most of what I did save I also
converted and threw out the hardcopies (even reprints). I grew up with
hardcopies and I still prefer the immediacy of text and annotation, but I
have had to adjust to reading pdfs in a way that I did not before. As our
lives are all temporary we cannot ultimately take the papers with us anyway.

If you do not need particularly high quality you can run pages through a
photocopies that converts to pdf. Otherwise I used a flat screen scanner
and combined and converted the jpegs to pdf. No doubt there are more
effective methods that the tech masters on this list will know.

John Grehan


On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 9:35 PM, Vratislav Ricardo Bejsak-Coloredo-Mansfeld
<bayshark at exemail.com.au> wrote:

> Hi
>
>
>
> I have a huge collection of papers about the higher taxonomy of all beetles
> and Tenebrionidae. Although these papers take up space, I find that it is
> handy because anytime I want to do some reading I don't have to switch on
> the computer and wait for windows to upload, and I have the feeling that
> working with paper is more pleasant and easier than work with pdf files.
>
>
>
> So I have a few questions:
>
> a.      Is it good to keep papers even if I have already good pdf?
> b.      Is it good to transfer papers to pdf format and if Yes, What is the
> best way to do?
> c.      Is good to print pdf and therefore to keep in both media (pdf and
> paper)?
>
>
>
> Regards
>
>
>
> Vratislav
>
> (name) Vratislav Richard Eugene Maria John Baptist
>
> (surname) of Bej??k (read as a Bayshark)-Colloredo-Mansfeld
>
> website: www.coleoptera.org
>
> address: P.O.Box 3335 , Redfern, NSW 2016
> AUSTRALIA
>
> phone : +61 0420602040
> http://www.facebook.com/bayshark
> alternate email: bayshark at ymail.com (to iPhone)
>
>
>
>
>
>
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