[WikiEN-l] The boundaries of OR (contd) (Ray Saintonge)

[Daniel P. B. Smith]

> From: Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net>
>
> Daniel P. B. Smith wrote:
>
>> I don't see what that can't be broadened just a bit. For example,
>> let's suppose a library has an online catalog... let's say an online
>> catalog that's accessible to anyone. (Two that come to mind are the
>> Cornell University Library, and the 16,000-volume public library of
>> Bergen-op-Zoom in the Netherlands... well actually it seems to be
>> offline but it was available a few years ago).
>>
>> You can't prove a negative, but you can certainly say "his book is
>> not in the Cornell University Library" or whatever, and cite a link
>> to the search or a description of how to do the search. This doesn't
>> seem very different to me from a citation.
>>
> More precisely you can say that you could not find the book listed in
> the Cornell University Library Catalog.  It's not the same even though
> the correlation between the two statements will be strong.

Yes, I stand corrected. Quite right. Or even "the book was not found  
in an online search of the Cornell University Library Catalog." If  
the citation gives the details of the search, that gives the  
opportunity for someone else to check and point out that the search  
succeeds if you spell the title differently. Not at all impossible.

(Of course we get back into murky territory if someone asserts that  
the book is not in the online catalog, but nevertheless can be found  
on the the shelves, third floor of the stacks, two rows from the  
back, sixth set of stacks, fourth shelf, sixteenth from the left in a  
dull red binding, catalog number QQXXZZ-12345).