Book review: The future of the book in the digital age
Title of Book
The future of the book in the digital age
Author
Bill Cope and Angus Phillips (editors)
ISBN
1843342405
Publisher
Chandos Publishing
Publisher Website
www.chandospublishing.com
Reviewer Name
Janice Grant
Title
MKN editor
Review
This is a fascinating book, both stimulating and challenging for librarians as we anticipate our rapidly changing role in the face of revolutionary changes in the way information is delivered. Many of the papers were presented at the Third International Conference of the Book, held in Oxford in 2005. The key themes are:
Do the new media offer a threat or an opportunity?
What is the book’s future as a conduit for human creativity?
We often hear gloomy statements that the book is dead: that people read their newspapers online; students obtain information for their coursework exclusively from the Internet; e-books and e-journals are increasingly being recommended to students by academic staff. So is the demise of the book imminent?
The conference ranged widely in its examination of the future of the book, and consequently the chapters cover a variety of issues including publishing, bookselling, authorship, readership, and librarianship. All are interesting, and no overall conclusion is reached, but several authors raised points very relevant to the academic librarian. The digital media have arrived, and their influence is growing fast. In a world overflowing with information, what is the librarian’s role in assisting users to assess and evaluate the vast range of data available?
The academic library is no longer the focal point for the dissemination of information. Over the past few years, we librarians have experienced ‘convergence’ in our work situations. As information is delivered digitally, so are barriers between the information professions being broken down. Many of us are now under joint management with IM&T, or Knowledge Management. Our staff and students no longer need to come to the library for their research. We’ve all watched our users totally ignore the books and go straight to the computers. Users have become accustomed to using search engines rather than library catalogues, and many institutions now provide password-protected subscription resources for their own community. Consequently, staff and students have far less need of the library to read journals or use databases. Increasingly, primary as well as secondary material is provided online by institutions, a further reason for the library to be bypassed.
Our challenge is to grasp the opportunites offered by digital resources, ensuring that our skills continue to be in demand to assist users to find their way through the deluge of information. One possibility would be to take on a role more on the lines of network manager, an important and essential role which, if not taken on by us, will be taken up by other information professionals, thus marginalising the librarian even more.
The conclusion of the book’s editors is optimistic, and positive as far as the librarian is concerned. However, a cautionary note is sounded when discussing the economics of digital publishing. Journals are now typically purchased and paid for in a way different from the past, when each library bought its own paper copy. Electronic journals are now increasingly purchased as packages across campus, between a group of institutions, or nationally as with the NHS Scotland e-library. In time this may result in some small institutions being excluded from the research community if subscriptions cease to be affordable.
The editors in their introduction suggest that, while the digital revolution will prove to be as important in changing how information is delivered as the invention of printing, the information product is not all that different. Gutenberg’s printing press certainly allowed books to be mass produced, and digital publishing allows mass production of materials on an unimaginable scale. However, the book existed before printing, and an online resource still generally follows the structure of the book, with chapters, contents list, and index. Certainly hypertext allows cross-referencing at unprecedented speed, but the principle is broadly the same.
If we grasp the concept that digital media follow the same principles as books, then we realise that our skills are transferable to helping our users to find the information they need. In fact, the librarian should be in even greater demand, since information seems to grow exponentially.
The book’s proposition is that the book will thrive, rather than be eclipsed as a cultural and commercial artefact. Bookshops may not need to carry huge stocks any longer, and it will be economically viable for small publishers to produce very small print runs. Print on demand will become the norm, and libraries and institutions will be able to publish their own material. Booksellers, publishers, and libraries will have to grasp the exciting opportunities or be left behind.