Due to the time, expense, and copyright issues involved, relatively few numismatic texts are available in their entirety on the internet. Advertisements announcing the acquisition of the numismatic firm of Bowers and Merena by Collectors Universe promise that "all of the Bowers and Merena catalogs and many of Dave Bowers' books will eventually be available online."

I doubt that this means any previous catalogs would be put online, but certainly future catalogs will be. Empire Numismatics was probably the first major numismatic auctioneer to discontinue printed catalogs in favor of online versions. Several other firms have very complete catalogs online, but continue to produce printed versions. What does this trend mean for numismatic bibliophiles? Is the printed word doomed? Will libraries of 21st century numismatics consist largely of links to web pages?

Although newsgroups, bulletin boards, and chat rooms have been around the internet for some time, The E-Sylum was among the first, if not the first, completely edited electronic periodical (the key word being "edited").

The only printed copies are those made individually by subscribers. The only "volumes" are the archives on the NBS web site. So is that a good thing or not? I'm sure some of you have strong opinions on the subject - let us know what you think.