Reply #8: yeah, I can see good things about it for people [View All]

and, no, I don't think books will disappear anytime soon.

what bothers me about the current set up is the "instability" of access - and lack of same for people who cannot afford the latest gadget.

Will libraries put money into the new platforms and then not have money for regular old books for people who most need access to public libraries?

that was a point Darnton made about academic journals. they have become so expensive (and at this point, or at least a couple of years ago point) the publishers made (univ.)libraries buy both the electronic and paper version of journals - tho that sort of writing is most esp. the type that is good for electronic publishing - quick access, easy to download one paper out of many, which is how most people use an academic journal - and the prices kept going up b/c no one else was going to be able to supply the journals (that are, btw, mostly published with free content from scholars) that the libraries had to make budget decisions - they had to have the best academic journals - so book acquisition was cut.

we're always making trade offs with market realities...