The Case for Imaging, by Brandon Dennings
I HAVE HEARD that the ANA is kicking around the idea of capturing every issue of The Numismatist on CD-ROM. I, for one, think it's a great idea. Microfilm and printed indexes can't compare to having 100-plus years of this historic, numismatic journal at your fingertips.

Although this would be no small task with regard to finances or time, entire issues of The Numismatist on CD-ROM could prove immensely valuable to numismatic researchers. Equipped with a CD-ROM player, you could, for example, pop in a disk and instruct the unit to search for every mention of the 1804 dollar. It would flag not only news items and feature articles, but advertisements as well. (A printed index would include just editorial material, not advertising.)

And how about the ANA member who wants a complete set of The Numismatist but can't afford the shelf space or the price, which can run thousands of dollars? A CD-ROM collection of all the volumes (text only) could be made available to ANA members for less than $500.

In this day and age of electronic information, ignoring the possibilities of The Numismatist on CD-ROM would be a sin. Publishing houses have squeezed dictionaries and entire sets of encyclopedias on disk using CD-ROM technology.

The Case for Indexing, by William Gilbert
THIS YEAR MARKS the 107th volume of The Numismatist, but surprisingly the last time a cumulative index was published was 1978, more than 15 years ago. The magazine's 100th anniversary in 1988 (or the Association's centennial in 1991) would have been a perfect time to create a new, improved index.

However, it is not too late. I would welcome a comprehensive, cross-referenced index of every article, author and subject that has appeared in The Numismatist since its debut more than a century ago. Without an up-to-date index, all the valuable information contained in the magazine's pages is useless.

Despite all the discussion that print has become an obsolete mode of communication with the advent of computer and CD-ROM technology, I think a printed index would be of the greatest use to ANA members. True, such an index might be a bit ungainly, easily comprising 1,500 pages or more, but it would be great to keep on the bookshelf with my volumes of The Numismatist.

A printed reference is always accessible; you do not need expensive, complicated equipment to use it. In addition, I suspect that many ANA members do not have CD-ROM players - or even computers - in their homes.

Andy Newman writes:

Len Augsburger writes: