Well, I just called the UM library, and discovered that as a faculty member from another college in Michigan, I am eligible for borrowing privileges there. This is no small matter: Usually a library card costs ordinary citizens $250 annually. (The same card is free at MSU. Go figure.)

No database access, of course.

So here I am, in the year 2005, faced with the prospect of actually having to go to the library to use its resources. So many steps ahead, so many steps back . . . It's all ironic, since as a faculty member who actually had to do research I spent such a long time decrying having to go to the library . . . the world finally got to the point where I could do most things from home, and now it's back to square one for me. (Go Google! Go Google!)