Francis Tyers wrote:
I completely agree that a centralised repository of references/ citations would be desirable, not only would we be able to see which books are used where, but possibly (if people think it wise) to see who has which books/articles.
For example, I have many journal articles that I have photocopied from the British Library (my department paid for it) that I would be happy to look up information in for people. They can't be distributed because of copyright reasons, but if someone comes along, sees that I've cited it and asks me a question about the paper, I would have no problem in looking it up etc.
Taking that a step further: User A has made a statement, and claims that it is supported by a specific reference. User B questions the claim and its source. User C has registered his ownership of the source in the Central bibliography. User B can then ask User C to check the claim to see if it is really in that source, or to see if it has been misquoted or, more frequently, misunderstood.
Ec