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I've answered this off-list already, but I'll repeat: The positives of the
Wright archives on CD-ROM will be obvious to anyone who has seen it
demonstrated: image quality is very high, contents of the archive are
interesting and beautiful.  Based on all that, we didn't really consider not
buying the database (but then, we have some special funding for
architectectural resources.)  In use, I regret to say, the database has been a
disappointment.  It seems to have been designed by and for computer mavens,
with very little regard for the possible confusions of laymen, or whatever the
rest of us are. I (and, I believe, most of our patrons) have found it
remarkably difficult to navigate within the database, or to avoid falling into
trapdoors and going up blind allies.  Then there is the fact that so many
students dislike not being able to make a decent copy, assuming they have
fought their past all the obstacles and found what they wanted.  In sum, we
rarely use the thing, and have gone right on using the 12-volume A.D.A. set; I
would, in restropect, not buy the CD-ROM's again, and would not buy the rest of
the set when it's published, unless I am persuaded that the software platform
has been greatly improved.

William Lang
Head, Art Department
The Free Library of Philadelphia