Print is dead. Long live Print!

For about 15 years now pundits, futurists, writers, and a whole host of alarmists have predicted the end of the printed word. In the digital age, books, they say, are as relevant today as scrolls, stone tablets, and other "media" whose time, usability, and practicality have long since passed.

While statistics prove that more and more books are being published in digital/electronic format each year (and some are being published only digitally), it is hard to fathom a world without books. While a discussion on the pros and cons of print vs. digital far exceeds a practical blog post, two factors stand out to me, as a librarian and lover of the printed word, that will ensure the survival of print into the near and distant future.

The Book as a Physical Object. Walk into any home whose inhabitants enjoy reading and look around. You may see elaborately photographed coffee table books, rows of a favorite author arranged neatly on a shelf, or a well-loved dog-eared paperback on a side table or perhaps sticking out of the corner of a briefcase/backpack/handbag, etc. The presence of the book as an object has symbolic significance to some. The book has been or will be read, the reader takes pride in showing the book has been read, and the book is being kept close in case he or she would like to peruse it again. This all begs the question, does the physical presence of the book add value to the information contained inside? Book lovers, who consider colorfully arranged dust jackets of bestsellers and gilded lettering of timeless classics as art on par with paintings and photographs, would agree.

Economics. Publishers, authors, and other beneficiaries in the book industry like to make a profit, and rightfully so. Interestingly enough, economics and the book-as-physical-object example go hand-in-hand. If you forgo the printed word and only purchase a digital copy, how much is that new copy worth to you? You paid $25 for the printed version. Are you willing to pay $25 for the e-version? Digital advocates look to the music industry for a successful business model. One doesn't see the large libraries of CDs in a home or dorm room like they would have 10 years ago. The once mighty CD library is now a series of play lists on an iPod or other digital music player. While the book publishing industry has not yet conquered the price point question, it is not completely fair to compare books to music. Songs, in general, do well in lists, mixed and matched at the downloaders discretion. Books, on the other hand, do not lend themselves to the same kind of reconstruction. Dropping Holden Caulfield in the middle of a Michener novel just wouldn't flow. So the .99 cent iTune model, while useful in one industry, is still not the solution in all.

Libraries have been doing a good job responding to digital media. In the area, many libraries have started purchasing Nooks and other electronic reading devices to circulate with ebooks already downloaded on them. The C/WMARS catalog contains thousands of electronic titles, which you can reach by clicking here. The question for libraries will become - "Do we purchase the print or the digital?" The question for publishers - "How do we charge libraries for digital copies that could potentially be shared by thousands of readers?"

The answers will come, eventually, as societal preferences and tastes for a particular format will determine the direction future generations of readers will take. While the world may be trending digital, and libraries are responding to meet those needs, print will remain the choice for many until the reality of economics, and the aesthetics of ownership, become non-issues in the current debate.