NCA progress and Microfilm

One of the NCA papers is coming together. I just found some literature that needs to be added, and the discussion section needs bolstering. Then, I'll probably have to shorten it by a few pages, but still, it's going to get there. The other paper has further to go. I need to write the discussion section, and the literature review is going to need a fair amount of polishing. One of the variables that I wanted to include had poor reliability, which at first, I thought had doomed that variable. But I just found an article that discusses how to "fix" low reliabilities and still use the variable. I haven't read it yet, but I'm hopeful that will help the paper. For the panel that I'm submitting, I'm still lacking a couple of abstracts (nudging those authors is on my list of stuff to do today) and I need to put together a polished abstract that defines the whole panel (also on my list), but it should all be ready by Sunday or Monday--far ahead of the All Academic chaos that I'm sure will ensue on Wednesday.

The article on reliability that I mentioned was a bit difficult to get. I found the citation on Google Scholar. My university's library did not have it electronically and did not list the print version, so I asked for it through InterLibrary Loan. This was about a week ago, so plenty of time to get it. No big deal, right? The ILL person emailed me back saying that they had it in microfilm and I could come to the library to print it. I hinted around that I really didn't want it in that form, could it not be found electronically or could someone not scan it and send it to me, but I was politely told to come print it. Immediately a number of objections to that system arose in my mind. First, it seems in 2009 that we are beyond the requirement that things be printed. Perhaps this is complete laziness/spoiledness on my part, but I think that if it exists and if it's been printed in the last 20 years, it should exist electronically and that's the version I want. I want it on my computer so that I can take it wherever I wanted to. Not to mention the "green-ness" of electronic copies versus printing something from microfilm. And along that, when I was getting my PhD, they had microfilm machines from which you could print, but the printouts cost 10 cents per page. As a faculty member, I felt like I was above paying such fees (especially since I know that it only costs them slightly over 6 cents per copy). I needed the article, so I went to the library. And the printout was free beyond the time it took me to relearn the machine. I'm not sure if I'm a spoiled brat or a green, convenience revolutionary, but this should have been available electronically.