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Re: [GWL]: Managing the mess

> I have yet another managing the mess question -- i have piles of 
> information on various plants, tools, products, societies, etc etc on 
> my desk and I am overwhelmed by the prospect of managing all this 
> paper.  Other folks can throw things out but I never know when I am 
> going to need informatoin from my archives and truth is, I use this 
> stuff on a regular basis.  I am tired of the piles, anyone got any 
> good methods or suggestions?

I have two large four-drawer filing cabinets dedicated to nursery catalogs
and information about suppliers, plants, etc.  I keep the nursery catalogs
separate in two drawers (soon to become three), then keep my other records
in the other drawers.

The problem, of course, is cross-referencing when an article covers
multiple areas.  With this in mind, I bought myself a small photocopier
this past spring.  It has proven to be invaluable.

They range in price from about $250 on up -- I sprang for one in the $600
range because it doubles as a laser printer for my Windows machine and 
can do enlargements, reductions, etc. 

Anyhow, I no longer tear up my magazines, and I certainly don't want to 
tear up my books.  What I've ended up doing is photocopying all relevant
articles and/or sections, then filing them (sometimes multiply) under
the appropriate category.  

For example, I have a section about the genus Viburnum.  Any time that
I find an article that generally talks about the genus, I photocopy it
and add it to the folder.  If I find an article that talks about a 
few species (i.e. Viburnum fragrant in the garden, so it might list
V. carlesii, V. x burkwoodii, V. x juddii, V. x carlecephalum, and
V. x bodnatense (I'm sure I'm forgetting some here)), the appropriate
section gets copied, cut out, and put into a subfolder about each
species.

It's a lot of work (and I often don't do it in real-time as articles
come in), but it's proven to be invaluable.

Chris

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Christopher P. Lindsey                            http://www.hort.net/
http://www.hort.net/gallery/      1969 online plant photos and growing!

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