Print versus Electronic, or, Books are Dead?
Dear Colleagues and Bloggers,
Today we would like to launch a discussion about two related trends. One would be the "end" of the book as we know it, although monographs abound. The problem is, both as to space and money, we just can't keep very many of them around, can we? Or can we- please give us your 2 cents! Another aspect is the trade-off that some of us must make. I have a folder with about 10 or more new serial titles both in foreign and in international law. But Transnational Dispute Management and Kluwer Arbitration databases are a pretty penny and I can't do both. Can a research library participate in an access over ownership model with perhaps a much leaner collection of print materials supporting some areas? I've just created a new collecting level to "sell" to my boss: based on RLG conspectus levels, how about Level 3 (electronic) meaning that even some primary resources are electronic and at least some are paid and have PDF or citation-reliable access? A whole new set of criteria come in.
To comment on this or any post, click the rather pale "comment" where the word appears below. You can post without being a manager of the blog, and join the conversation! I'll be off and on today, but reviewing each evening. Let 'er rip! Your Co-Moderator, on behalf of Dan Wade and Lyo Louis-Jacques, Marylin Raisch
Today we would like to launch a discussion about two related trends. One would be the "end" of the book as we know it, although monographs abound. The problem is, both as to space and money, we just can't keep very many of them around, can we? Or can we- please give us your 2 cents! Another aspect is the trade-off that some of us must make. I have a folder with about 10 or more new serial titles both in foreign and in international law. But Transnational Dispute Management and Kluwer Arbitration databases are a pretty penny and I can't do both. Can a research library participate in an access over ownership model with perhaps a much leaner collection of print materials supporting some areas? I've just created a new collecting level to "sell" to my boss: based on RLG conspectus levels, how about Level 3 (electronic) meaning that even some primary resources are electronic and at least some are paid and have PDF or citation-reliable access? A whole new set of criteria come in.
To comment on this or any post, click the rather pale "comment" where the word appears below. You can post without being a manager of the blog, and join the conversation! I'll be off and on today, but reviewing each evening. Let 'er rip! Your Co-Moderator, on behalf of Dan Wade and Lyo Louis-Jacques, Marylin Raisch
posted by Marylin Johnson Raisch at 10:18 AM
3 Comments:
I'm commenting on my own post here...I will supply full pricing along with URL for the two databases I mentioned when I'm back in the office tomorrow. The web public information does not apply to most libraries, and I've not got that at my fingertips today...Marylin R.
I'm forwarding a comment from Neil Campbell - Lyo.
It is hard not the resist wading in on this topic. For years I
have been told by techies and academics, swayed by what they read
and hear in the popular media, that the book is dead and the
library is obsolete. To respond to these provocations naturally
sets up a false dichotomy: either the book is dead or it isn't. As
with most such debates, this either-or simplicity obscures the
real issues in favour of self-serving tub thumping.
Of course the book is not dead! Where is the evidence? I still see
plenty of print and more coming all the time, particulary new
journals.
The real question is will the primary medium of scholarship and
the transmission and preservation of ideas be in print or in
electronic form in the future.
The last revolution in the transmission of ideas was Gutenberg's
development of moveable type, which replaced manuscripts which
print and machine produced books. This revolution lasted about 300
years, and handwriting and manuscripts still haven't disappeared
completely.
As we are in the course of a similar, although faster, revolution
it is difficult for us to be definitive about the outcome. What
we can do is to discover and anticipate trends.
It seems clear now, at least to me, that print and electronic will
be mixed for the forseeable future, with more material
increasingly moving to the digital format.
What is also clear to me is that the forms developed in the print
world will continue in the electronic one. E-books will still look
like print books with all the scholarly appartus: toc, indexes,
chapters, footnotes, bibliographies, pagination, and editorship.
E-journals or serials will still come out in issues and volumes
and releases, although looseleafs will really be consolidations.
This is not because these are antique holdovers from the print
era, but because they work. The electronic publishers will add
value by search engines, hypertexts links, interactive
programming etc. that fits that medium. If you want to know what's
really possible, play video games, and you'll get the general
idea.
So there are my ideas. This is really a non-debate. But it is a time for serious study of the book itself as an artifact and as a
method of intellectual communication. It is interesting that as
the digital era is arriving, there has been a growing interest in
the history of the book and its form as a separate and legitimate
discipline, and one that librarians above most should seriously
study in order to be able to learn from one revolution about what
might happen in the existing electronic revolution.
Neil A. Campbell
Law Librarian & Associate University Librarian
Associate Professor of Law
Priestly Law Library
University of Victoria
Victoria, BC V8W 3B1
Canada
neilcam@uvic.ca
Phone: 250-721-8561
Fax: 250-472-4174
To respond to Marilyn's post, if we were going to apply a "books are dead" paradigm, we wouldn't even consider subscribing to the serials unless they were available in electronic format. The questions would change - are there digital archives? How far back does it go? Are the articles in PDF format? Etc.
If the serials were available in both print and electronic formats, if we were to apply the "books are dead" paradigm, we would choose to subscribe to the electronic format only.
With "books are dead" in mind, if we buy print at all, it would be for short term use. We would be constantly reviewing our print collections for what to toss. We wouldn't have print collections to review. Toss after use. We would not think about storing or keeping anything in print for future use. It would be print on demand for real. And buy on demand.
So, it would be as if those 12 print serials did not exist in a "books are dead" way of thinking.
Ciao,
Lyo.
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