I hate the library. They never have the article I want, and tease me by providing a link to an electronic text only for it to say you don't have access to this article. Is this a universal source of frustration?

Oooh I know what you mean. I had the same problem recently, and it was so annoying when I put my Athens details in and it said the subscription from my uni had lapsed. I contacted the library and complained but they said that electronic articles can still be accessed through the inter-library loan service. You should check this out. I think they can e-mail articles directly to you.

Hi siwee22, I have pretty good access to electronic resources and, if you really need it, provide me with the title of the article and I'll upload it online for you to download. I understand your frustration.

Hi,

I have thought this a couple of times do you think a thread could be set up where people post requests for articles cause i am sure if we pool our resources we could get anything? The reason i haven't suggested it before is because of copyright issues; what you think?

^^ that's a great idea. It's shame we don't have a better forum to administer such a thread. I'm not sure about copyright rules (possibly we could be breaching some university service agreement), but we are all students, and we are all using the articles for our own personal use. Academics share articles all the time via email - so I can't see the problem as long as content is not published on the forum.

Well, if you can't get it in the library or online, why not email the lead author and ask for a copy of it? I do this all the time and nearly everyone sends them. It also represents an opportunity to network with said author. Give it a go and explain a little about what you're doing as they'll often point you in the direction of author articles of interest.

*other

yes, i always mail the first author if i have problems finding the article. they are always very happy to oblige. one article was so old the author sent me a paper copy in the post. i scanned it in for him and sent it as a pdf mail attachment. he was quite pleased.

You could always set up a yahoo group as this would allow an exchange of information, when needed, and allow people to send attachments and PM's regarding articles. PM's could be used for people to give their email to someone who may have an article.