On the physical pleasures of… research. And buying books

Things I learnt today-

• you can’t watch half an episode of ‘The Good Wife’ – it’s too compelling in a gourmet bubblegum for the mind kind of way.
• chest expanders are fun
• the physicality of archival research is fun.

On the third point – those of us old enough to remember Before The Web might recall that the way you found academic articles was to get hold the most recent article you could and then ‘mine’ the references backwards. That died as a necessary technique in about 1999 (perhaps earlier?) when online bibliographies showing where something was cited popped up.  At about the same time, the physical skills of knowing how to ninja operate a photocopier, having paper clips, staplers, folders, biceps and stamina for ferrying heavy bound journals from dusty shelves to the one or two functioning copiers all went kaput in the blink of a pdf developer’s eye.  You no longer needed to be an acrobat, just to have one.

For a long time since then, you could, if you wanted, surf.  But if, like me, you are studying obscure stuff that is on the cusp of the digital age, then there is no substitute for cunning and hard graft. And the kindness of librarians.

So, I’ve been digging up the conference papers of the Australian Coal Association. I thought I was going to get every year from 1990 to 1998, but it turns out they’ve only got 90, 92, 96 and 98.  It’s not the end of the world – (but unmitigated anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions probably ARE.)

Anyway, I was expecting to spend a small fortune on photocopying, and having to not buy books so that I could take my photocopies back home as part of my 5 tonne vandalism.  But the university has these magical scanners, kind of like what Googlebooks presumably has.  You can place an A3 book on a dinky procrustean-bed style cradle, and start pushing buttons more or less at random (and the software is largely idiot-proof. Trust me on this) and save your stuff to a USB.  Vwa-lah.

It made me even happier than finding out the public access computers do indeed have usb ports, and I don’t have to do the convoluted saving to a non-dotcom email and then emailing myself wodges of pdfs.  I know, I know, I should get out more, and not to academic libraries….

Now, about those books. I got the following-

Hamilton, C. and Maddison, S. (2007) Silencing Dissent: How the Australian government is controlling public opinion and stifling debate. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.

Have read bits of this, but a copy is needed.

Pearse, G. (2007) High and Dry : John Howard, climte change and the selling of Australia’s future. Camberwell, Vic: Viking

Have a copy of this elsewhere, but a reference copy here ain’t gonna hurt

That was published in 2007, as was Barrett, G. Payten, P. and Goldsmith, S. (2007) Your Eco Handbook: Achieving a Sustainable Future. Pyrmont, NSW: Fairfax Books

More on this in the next blog post. A curious document, very much of that odd year, 2007.  Which is the subject of the other three;

Brett, J. (2007) Exit Right: The Unravelling of John Howard, Quarterly Essay 28. Melbourne: Black Inc.

Kerr, C. (ed) (2007) The Crikey Guide to the 2007 Federal Election. Camberwell, Vic: Penguin

Stuart, N. (2007) What goes up… behind the 2007 election. Carlton, Vic: Scribe

Will I read every word of every book.  No.  Will I fossick out nuggets? Oh yes….