Re. Death of paper

[geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA]

 David Blyth noted <paraphrase> that paper dox are gradually
 being replaced by the internet and (by implication) other
 forms of online information. There's certainly some truth
 in this, but the overall conclusion is undermined by what I
 call the "library fallacy".

 In theory, a well-endowed public library makes it
 unnecessary to have any books at home. After all, the
 library can hold far more information on each topic, and
 far more topics, than my home. The price is right (it's
 invisible in my property taxes), and there are expert
 assistants to help me find what I need. On the other hand,
 I have to compete with hundreds or even thousands of others
 to get a copy of the information (anyone else encountering
 internet bandwidth problems?), I have to go out on snowy
 nights (anyone else hate taking their computer to bed?),
 and the place is usually closed when I want to find
 information (anyone had much luck getting onto the net
 during a power failure?), and so on. I can even catch a
 virus at my local library. Guess what? I've got a LARGE
 paper library at home, and don't hit the public library
 much.

 Death of paper? I'm not selling my forestry stocks just
 yet!

 --Geoff Hart    @8^{)}
 geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca

 Disclaimer: If I didn't commit it in print in one of our
 reports, it don't represent FERIC's opinion.