Rich, And why should I expect URLs to persist? Shelf numbers for books do in fact change -- as time progress, libraries may change from, e.g., the Dewey Decimal system to Library of Congress numbers to ISBNs, and who is to say what further scheme will come along to supplant those? Must we forever lock ourselves into old organizational schemes when better ones come along? And the street addresses of homes or businesses do in fact change all the time, every time a family or business moves. It is then up to the family or business to arrange for mail and visitors to get redirected to the new address for a short time; anyone who shows up at my address of 20 or 30 years ago is just a fool, and I feel no obligation to provide redirection from those old addresses. And if an organization's URL scheme turns out to be a nightmare, should they remain locked in to it rather than revise it to one that better fits their and their customers' needs going forward? And after all, aren't URLs and all they represent just a *human* undertaking, and humans notoriously unreliable and fickle, and their systems subject to constant improvement? I am not saying that I don't want URLs to persist, in fact I would like that. But I know better than to *expect* such persistence, that's all. -- dkm >Why? Why shouldn't URLs persist? Do LC shelf numbers for books >change? Does the street address of your house or business change?