I imagine asking the students of the future. But that way madness lies, and my students have taught me that, if handled with care, the Internet can be an effective tool. Last semester, I directed a student who was writing a research paper in Paris. After consulting me by E-mail, she followed the leads I gave her by logging on to French library catalogues. The Web can provide a way to publish research in fields where the monograph has become an endangered species, owing to the costs of publishing conventional books.
Danger lies ahead.
Robert Darnton is a professor of history at Princeton.