The Theropod Archives Revisited

[Rob Taylor <rjtaylor68@comcast.net>]

Dear Theropod Devotees (and to all others with at least a passing interest):

First, a thank you to those who responded to my inquiry into the legality of 
offering PDFs of older works online. (Special thanks to Sarah Werning and 
Dennis Ruez for directing me toward more accurate information regarding 
copyrights.) Suffice it to say, the responses I received off-list were 
overwhelmingly positive, every email containing words of encouragement or 
offers to assist. Clearly there is a great deal of support for the concept. 
Some of you may recognize wording on the site as having been derived from 
your feedback. I took each of your responses into consideration, and I 
believe the product is of higher quality as a result.

I have come full circle in my thinking with regard to this project, 
ultimately deciding to forge ahead with just some slight tweaking to the 
original plan. Given the recent debate aired on the DML over copyright 
issues, I want to make it clear that I respect copyright law and understand 
why intellectual property rights need to be protected. It's the growing 
complexity of it all that I struggle with. The reality of it is, without 
substantial outlays of time and money you simply can't be sure what's safe 
to post and what isn't. Regrettably, I have precious little of either 
resource, and even if I did, I have learned that no amount of diligence 
affords total protection. I hope it's apparent to all that the focus here is 
solely on education. Rather than being crippled by uncertainty around the 
current state of our copyright laws, I have opted instead for an approach 
that I believe demonstrates my willingness to abide by the rules, 
acknowledges that I might occasionally miss the mark, but promises my full 
cooperation should anyone take issue with one of the Archive's offerings.

A brief note of explanation: The introductory text for The Theropod Archives 
identifies it as a "registry." I have worked for a number of years in the 
health and human services arena, where I first learned the concept of a 
central registry. The medical industry maintains registries for all kinds of 
unpleasant things (the first I worked with collected data for every cancer 
tumor diagnosed in the U.S.); however, it occurred to me that applying the 
registry model to The Theropod Archives makes a certain amount of sense. My 
goal is to build a reasonably comprehensive collection of theropod-related 
research papers, and to do what I can to improve access to these works for 
students of paleontology. I believe the registry concept lends credence to 
the endeavor, and makes it apparent that I have more in mind than simply 
growing my personal collection of papers.

If you like the direction I've taken with this effort and would like to 
contribute, there are a number of ways in which you can assist:

1) Send theropod papers, please! Depending on their age, I may not be able 
to offer them directly through the Web site, but I can at least alert people 
to their existence in PDF format, and provide a solid reference. I actually 
have A LOT of papers that I've yet to list on the site, but I don't mind 
receiving the occasional duplicate. For older works in particular, it may be 
the case that your scan is superior to my own. It's a luxury to have choices 
available.

2) Some papers are currently available only in translation, with links 
typically pointed at the Polyglot Paleontologist Web site. (Where this is 
the case, it will be made clear in bracketed notes following the reference.) 
Obtaining these publications in their original languages is a priority, 
particularly since the translations often exclude figures and plates. 
Similarly, I hope to replace any "in press" or "early online" editions with 
PDFs of the final print copy.

3) Please notify me if you encounter any broken hyperlinks or cross-linked 
files. Much of my linking has been done in the wee hours - often the only 
time I have available. I try to be careful, but it's quite possible the 
occasional mistake has crept in.

4) Send corrections should you find any of my bibliographic references to be 
inaccurate.

5) Let me know your likes and dislikes. If there are things you feel I can 
do to improve the site, I will give due consideration to your suggestions 
when planning future updates.

One thing I do NOT need (yet) is to be made aware of freely available PDFs. 
I have an extensive list of sites to review for additional links, and will 
work my way through them as time allows. Once I exhaust the list, I may put 
out the call for help. Also, while not addressed on the Web site, I have 
decided against listing theses and dissertations, primarily to avoid the 
potential misuse of unpublished names.

A modest start, but as of today, there are 280 registered PDF files in the 
Theropod Archives. 166 are available for download - 46 directly, 120 through 
links to external Web sites. Having established this core set of offerings, 
all subsequent entries will carry the date they were added to the Archives. 
Hopefully the use of date stamps will help users keep up with each new round 
of additions. I may also make use of a special icon or color-coding to 
identify new content.

Finally, there are two potential enhancements I have been mulling over. The 
first is to provide links to abstracts for papers I can't offer via the 
site. The second is to provide additional links for works where supplemental 
data have been made available by the publishers. Should you perceive utility 
in either feature, please let me know as it may sway my decision.

Given this lengthy intro, I'd say it's about time for the payoff. The 
Theropod Archives Web site can be found at 
http://home.comcast.net/~theropod-archives/. Please address correspondence 
regarding the site to theropod-archives@comcast.net. (I will continue to use 
my regular email address, rjtaylor68@comcast.net, for general DML 
correspondence.) I hope you enjoy the site, and please let me hear from you!

Kind regards,

Rob Taylor