My intention was not to denigrate the value of the Web for student researchers. Indeed, the field of Civil War studies is especially fortunate in its Web sites. Mr. Ayers and his colleagues are in the forefront of efforts to exploit the potential of computers in making the raw materials of history, manuscript as well as printed, available to a massive audience via the Web. But the Web as a source for research material should not inspire uncritical faith among students. Rather than place sole reliance on the Internet, students should also mine the collections of Alderman or other libraries.
Few exercises can produce more substantive or enjoyable results.
Let your eye take you where it will, and savor what you discover. Finding one book often will lead to others in the same section of the stacks, sometimes yielding titles and information that no bibliography, finding aid or Web site could have revealed. The serendipitous nature of such discoveries adds charm to the process of roaming the stacks, as does the sense of literally being surrounded by the efforts of generations of authors who presented their work, whatever its merit, to be appraised by anyone attracted to the same subject. Working in a library's printed collections offers the additional satisfaction of holding an item rather than merely peering at its text on a screen. This tactile dimension of researching may seem unimportant to those unaware of pleasures well known to bibliophiles.