On the Use of the Records of Research

How much of what kind of knowledge of prior research is needed and wanted by those conducting research? Can it only be acquired, or is it best acquired, by the use of the original reports of prior research? Situational familiarity is the kind of knowledge wanted; historical familiarity with ancestral research is a conventional requirement differing in importance in different areas. The comprehensive literature search, often supposed to be a necessary preliminary to a new research effort, is usually unnecessary in theory and often unnecessary in practice. Working familiarity with research areas from which potentially useful contributions are expected is sought in proportion to the expectation of impact of others' work on one's own. Use of original research reports is not indispensable and is often an inferior means of acquiring the desired familiarity. Librarians and others exaggerate the need for bibliographic access to original research reports; greater development of means of avoidance of use of such reports would be of more value to research than further development of bibliographical access.