...the book you want is REFERENCE ONLY, and so you are practically forced to skirt around the fringes of breaking copyright law by spending an afternoon with the photocopier?

The book is over £50 retail, so it is not like buying it is an option...

You have my sympathy, it's really annoying.

Have you checked ebay for the book?

Yeah..it isn't the kind of book you would find on ebay, sadly. If you bought it...you would kind of keep it. The cheapest is £42 second hand (eeek!). Still it is hardbound and does have a nice cover.

Still, what with it being the most recent study on an area similar to mine (published 2006)...I've just had to photocopy vast chunks of it.

Sorry Mr Arnold [author]...you'll understand...you were a PhD student once....

ahem, see http://www.postgraduateforum.com/showmessage.asp?thread=5568&cat=16&keyword=crazy&newview=1&stype=TM&category=0

Chris,

At my uni library (I'm f/t PhD and p/t lecturer), if a book is 'ref only' they can make allowances and allow me to take it out for a few days (so I can sift through and work out what I need to photocopy).

Are your library that harsh that they won't allow you to do that?

If not, request it via inter-library loan (which costs the uni money!), and if they 'kick-up' say you've no other option and you need a copy you can take out (... in a polite way - of course!).

Hope that helps.

Have you taken a look to http://www.abebooks.co.uk to see if you can find it there?

Just moved jobs and have no free access to a photocopier (as I did in my old job) - used to photocopy lots of books like that.

Hate it when academic books are HUGELY expensive, especially when they are 'core' texts.

I have an inter library loan that is for reference only...which means I have to take my big Italian, Latin & Ancient Greek dictionaries everytime I want to borrow it! I would photocopy it, but it is so expensive, if I do it in my department its free