(no subject)

[quislibet]

Sometimes I think the journal I help edit wouldn't be so far behind schedule if the boss didn't insist at every point that a bibliographical reference to, say, a specific volume of an encyclopedic or other multi-volume work be cited according to exact year of publication of the volume in question. Practically no library catalog in the world bothers with such information, and so it usually means having to go and physically look at the damn thing.

I just don't see the point.

Let us imagine the hypothetical reader:

"Oh! I note that the author of the article refers to the ten-volume Munich edition of the works of Name Here that was published between 1973 and 1979. Unfortunately he cites volume 3, part 2 without saying which year it appeared. I vaguely recall that it may have been 1976, but I shall not be able to sleep until I know for certain."