Coin collectors have a healthy respect for the past. Coins themselves are, after all, mementos of bygone times - and thus it is only natural that those of us who admire and collect these mementos would also share a deep appreciation for the history that surrounded their birth and gave rise to their production.

It's one thing to respect and honor the past, however, and another to be rooted there mentally and intellectually. There's a crucial difference between possessing an appreciation for history and having a slavish devotion to the past and all its trappings. Those who fail to remember the past may be doomed to repeat its mistakes, but those who insist on living in the past may miss the boat - or spaceship - when it sets out on its journey to a better and brighter tomorrow.

Some collectors - including some of the most prominent leaders in our hobby - look askance at new directions now taking place in the world of communications. Like the Indian depicted on the Oregon Trail half dollar, they hold up their hands as if to turn back the tide of coming events. The wave of the future is inexorable, though, and rather than resisting it and being swept away, we need to ride its crest and take full advantage of its potential.

With a new millennium only a few years away, forward-looking hobbyists are traveling already along a glittering pathway to the year 2000 and beyond. It's known as the Information Superhighway - and though it doesn't show up on standard road maps, it passes through the homes and offices of millions of people around the world, including a great many coin collectors.

This futuristic roadway uses computer technology to give people almost instant access to vast stores of information on an intricate series of networks known collectively as the Internet. It also gives them access quickly and inexpensively to each other, through on-line services that connect their computers electronically, enabling them to communicate either one-on-one or in lively group sessions with like-minded individuals just about anywhere in the world.

Recently, for example, I joined an on-line group of collectors known as CoinMasters (http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/9980/mainpage.html). This group has nearly two-hundred dedicated members who use this computer link-up to share information, ask and answer questions, report new discoveries - and generally keep in touch not only with each other but also with the latest developments in their hobby.

Coin clubs and coin shows have suffered serious setbacks in recent years, with membership at meetings and attendance at shows all too often at alarmingly low ebb. Groups such as CoinMasters represent a way to revitalize lagging interest and give the hobby a much-needed shot in the arm.

I don't expect electronic discussion groups to replace traditional coin clubs, any more than I expect on-line chat rooms to eliminate high school dances as means for teenagers to socialize with members of the opposite sex. Rather, I view these groups as supplements to the tried and true forums for meeting other collectors and, quite possibly, as catalysts that will stimulate a rebirth of activity by hobbyists who had found themselves turning to other interests - including their computers.

Similarly, I anticipate a significant increase in the marketing of coins via computer offerings. The immediacy and visual impact provided by on-line services make them natural outlets for a new breed of mail-order coin dealers - what might be called e-mail-order dealers ("e-mail" being short for electronic mail in the parlance of on-line users).

Again, I see these entrepreneurs not as replacements for coin dealers doing business by regular mail, or those who maintain retail shops or old-style auction operations. Instead, I see this as a potentially beneficial extension of the current coin market, opening new doors to brand new customers, rather than closing existing doors.

Information about coins is already widely available on the Internet. Numerous coin dealers, organizations and individual hobbyists have established sites on the World Wide Web where people "surfing the Net" can obtain facts and figures about the hobby and, if they wish, download them to their computers and call them up for use at their convenience. I have such a "web site" myself (http://www.inch.com/~travers/), where people can read excerpts from my books.

The American Numismatic Association grasped the potential of on-line computer services at an early stage, establishing locations on two of those services - CompuServe and Prodigy - in 1993. A year later, the ANA ventured onto the Internet (http://www.money.org/) as well, putting it in position to gain important exposure to untold thousands of prospective new members. The association's executive director, Robert J. Leuver, has been a strong advocate of using computer technology to advance the ANA's programs, goals and interests.

Unfortunately, not everyone - even at the ANA - shares Bob Leuver's vision of the Internet's potential or appreciates the advantages available to hobbyists (and to the ANA) along the Information Superhighway.

To cite a case in point, the ANA Board of Governors took a vote in March 1996 on a resolution calling for routine messages involving the nine governors to be transmitted by e-mail via computer. The ANA spends thousands of dollars a year keeping in touch with Board members by telephone, mail and fax. The use of e-mail would have significantly cut these costs - and, at the same time, enabled the headquarters staff to reach multiple users quickly, efficiently and directly.

The benefits of such a switch will be readily apparent to those who are computer-literate. After all, millions of Americans now use e-mail routinely to reach people quickly and achieve substantial savings. Switching from regular mail and fax transmissions to e-mail might accurately be likened to switching from a bicycle to a jet airplane.

As you've probably guessed by now, the ANA Board rejected the switch, deciding by a 5-4 vote to hold up its hand like the Indian on the coin and continue using yesterday's technology.

I'm proud to say the motion to switch was mine. And I'm pleased that three fellow Board members joined me in an attempt to secure its passage: Helen Carmody, Will Rossman and J.T. Stanton.

Computers are here to stay - that is, at least until they themselves give way to some yet unimagined even greater leap forward down the road. Rather than regarding them with suspicion and retreating into a shell, we need to take full advantage of their potential.

History is a marvelous teacher. But when we're looking to the future, not the past, progress is the leader we need to follow.