The Future of Books

By ROM FERIA

February 2, 2011, 11:24am

The writing is on the wall, so they say. Amazon just released information about their Kindle ebook sales and it is not pretty for dead-tree books. For every 100 paperback books sold by Amazon, 115 Kindle ebooks are sold. And the information is even more spectacular with hardcover books, where the Kindle ebooks outsell it 3 to 1! And to top this off, free Kindle ebooks are not included in the statistics. One starts to wonder what will happen to the dead-tree books in the near future, as sales dramatically decreases?

Don’t get me wrong. I love reading dead-tree books. As readers would say, you cannot beat the smell of a new book. This is true. However, I guess it is time to re-think this. What is the future like? Personally, I think all signs points against dead-tree books.

If dead-tree books are starting to get replaced by its electronic cousin, what happens to the libraries then? Every time I mention the library, there are a lot of librarians up in arms, albeit quietly, telling me that I am writing this because I am against them.

This is not true, my brother has a BS Library and Information Science degree (but he is not a practicing librarian - by choice, I think)! I don’t have anything against them, at worse, I just want libraries, specially school libraries, to remain, for lack of a better term, relevant.

University libraries like the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Applied Engineering and Technology Library () has its entire collection only available electronically! Other university libraries like the University of California at Merced and Stanford University’s Engineering library are reducing their collection of dead-tree books! Heck, even high school libraries are doing this - checkout Lamar High School () and Cushing Academy ().

A main University library has to keep the archives and dead-tree versions of books, specially rare books. There is no argument here. This is, however, is just for preservation purposes. For day-to-day access, both at the main library and satellite or specialized libraries, I think going digital is the way to go.

Google is rapidly digitizing books! As of June 2010, it has scanned more than 12 million books already. What is the point of having dead-tree versions if you can access the digital versions anyway? Check out Google’s Books Library Project () - and you will get my drift.

What happens to school libraries then? With digitized books, the need for bulky books and bookshelves will be gone. In its place, the space can host discussion areas, ala coffee-shops, and more reading areas. Make the school library a place where students and faculty members can talk about their work, without being shushed! When this happens, the library will no longer be a place to take a nap. :)

Imagine this -- your library provides free and fast wifi, terminals where you can download ebooks to your computer, tablet, ebook reader or smartphone, affordable food and beverages and plenty of tables with power sockets, wouldn’t you stay there the rest of the day? I know I would. I guess this is why you see students reviewing at popular coffee shops, where it is not quiet (but they have headphones)! Why not their libraries? You tell me!