Re: What' an "archival journal" ?

[Francois Lapelerie <lapeleri@voltaire.timone.univ-mrs.fr>]

What's an archival journal?
What a journal "you read and throw away" ?
What can you discard? And it's probably easier to discard electronic
files than to burn a "throw-away-magazine".

Francois Lapelerie
Universite de la Mediterranee - Marseille

______________

A very interesting paper:


Wanted: Original Copy of 'Moore's Law'
Sun Apr 17, 5:23 PM ET

By MATTHEW FORDAHL, AP Technology Writer

SAN JOSE, Calif. - After decades of gathering dust on library shelves, the
April 19, 1965 issue of Electronics magazine has suddenly become a very
hot commodity. And it's not because vacuum tubes are making a comeback. In
that issue, future Intel Corp. co-founder Gordon Moore declared the
integrated circuit was the future of the electronics and predicted the
rate of improvement for the semiconductor industry. The 40th anniversary
of what was later coined "Moore's Law" is Tuesday.

Problem is, neither Moore - nor anyone else currently at Intel - saved an
original copy of the magazine. They have photocopies, but they want the
real thing. Earlier this week, Intel offered a $10,000 bounty for a
mint-condition copy.

A short time later, a bound volume of Electronics containing the issue
disappeared from the University of Illinois' engineering library. "This
thing wasn't touched in years," said Mary Schlembach, assistant
engineering librarian at the school in central Illinois. So far, there are
no clues as to who might have pilfered the magazine.

The university's other copy has since been moved to its rare book
collection where it will be kept under lock and key, she said. The theft
was first reported by the tech news Web site CNET.

Other libraries have moved to protect their copies. The University of
California, Los Angeles, placed its single copy on "permanent reserve,"
which means identification is required even before it's taken to the
photocopier. UCLA also has two copies on microfilm. "It had not circulated
in 20 years," said Anita Colby, head of collection development at the
campus' science and engineering library.

Intel, in its original posting on the auction site eBay, said it wasn't
interested in library copies unless the institutions themselves were
offering it. Intel, which has since pulled its request, says it's in
discussions with people who claim to have copies.

"Our posting made it clear that we would not buy library or museum copies
unless they sell them directly," Intel spokesman Robert Manetta said in an
e-mail. "We're sure the people we're talking to aren't involved in what
the article describes since they're outside of the U.S."

Schlembach said the stolen copy had been bound with other issues of
Electronics. If the April 19 issue were to be separated from the volume,
it would hardly be in mint condition. "You're going to have an issue
that's all loose sheets of paper," she said. "There's nothing to prevent
you from regluing it, but it wouldn't be in pristine shape."

In the article, Moore predicted the number of transistors and other
components crammed on an integrated circuit would double every year,
enabling an era of inexpensive microelectronics. Moore subsequently
updated the rate of doubling to every two years.

Moore, now 76, said he had no idea then that his article would remain a
hot topic four decades after publication. "Electronics was one of the
trade magazines that you read and throw away," he said in a recent
interview with The Associated Press. "It wasn't an archival journal."

The magazine no longer exists in its current form. McGraw-Hill sold it to
VNU in 1988 and it was sold to Penton Publishing the following year. In
1995, the magazine became a column in Penton's IndustryWeek magazine, said
McGraw-Hill spokesman Gregory Roth.

___

On the Net:

Moore's Electronics article:
ftp://download.intel.com/research/silicon/moorespaper.pdf