While I agree that more and more numismatic information should and will become available online, there will always be the concern that at some point in the future, retrieval will become a problem. How many of us have computers that can still read mini floppy discs? For that matter, how many have anything that can read the larger floppy discs that were actually floppy? LaserDiscs? Betamax video? Reel-to-reel, 8-track or mini cassette tapes? Newer computers can’t even read CDs and DVDs without adding specialized peripherals.

You say these are storage media, not application formats? Do you really think PDF will be around forever? Don’t bet the farm on it. I have documents on my computer that were produced in Microsoft Word so long ago that current versions of Word won’t open them. Books printed on paper 500 years ago, by contrast, are as readable as they were when new. Will that be true of our electronic documents? Again, don’t bet the farm on it.