Not only are the suppliers changing, but their products, the delivery mechanisms, and the equipment to decipher what we buy changes frequently. Buying a book requires that we have space on a shelf in a building with appropriate climate control. The book must be written in a language, format, alphabet, and font that can be understood, and preferably published on paper that can be preserved in the long run. Book publishers have had hundreds of years to stabilize these and other aspects of their industry. There is little doubt that something like this will happen in electronic publishing, but we are not there yet.
Individual bibliographers make decisions about CDs roughly as they do about books.
Although the bibliographers do not always have the expertise to evaluate electronic media, they are learning by taking classes, self-instruction, and helping each other. At present, they do not routinely request and evaluate demonstration copies of electronic data bases, although they receive input and advice upon request from the HCL automation group. Before purchasing, they ensure that each product can be run on HCL equipment, and they spend some time, along with the automation and reference groups, in trying to understand the product after it arrives. Through the Widener approach to book purchasing, the library has purchased very few CDs. Indeed, only 500 CDs have been purchased by all of Harvard's libraries.