Subject: Urging adoption of a Uniform Citation 
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 10:19:43 MST 
From: "Marsha Thomas" <MARSHA.THOMAS@law.utah.edu> 
Organization: College of Law 
To: citation@teo.uscourts.gov 

     I would like to add my support to the adoption of a vendor-
neutral medium neutral form of citation. 

     As a reference librarian in a public academic law library, I 
see people every day using cases from a variety of formats - from 
CD-Roms, to the Internet, on-line systems and books. I see that the 
time has passed that we should be tied to citing a certain set of 
books, and always trying to find paper parallel citations for 
something we didn't find in a book originally. I am receiving more 
and more frequently questions on "how should I cite this?" for 
something we pulled off the internet, or a CD-Rom, that isn't yet in 
paper. 

     The logistics of how to handle the problems, (i.e. retrospective 
citation or whether publishers will be able to figure out how to 
label the paper volumes under a new citation format) are concerns - 
but those problems shouldn't force us to remain citing in a way that 
isn't consistent with the way the world is now. 

Marsha Thomas 
Reference Librarian 
University of Utah 
SLC, UT 84112 
marsha.thomas@law.utah.edu