At Microsoft’s recent Strategic Account Summit, Bill Gates predicted that reading will go completely online. Review the rest of Gates’s predictions and user comments at Todd Bishop’s Microsoft Blog on Seattle Post-Intelligencer.com. Come back to the JSRCC Library blog and give your own comments on Gate’s predictions.
I can’t see all publishing going completely online. Curling up on your favorite couch or relaxing on the beach to read a good book on an e-reader does not sound very appealing. I like the tactile feel and smell of print books.
I once thought that it was only the old folks who believed that reading would never go completely online. But practically speaking, batteries die, electricity is interrupted, the coffee shop you are sitting in doesn’t have WiFi, or any other number of barriers can prevent one from reading online. The paperback book you carry in your briefcase, purse, or backpack will still be there waiting for you when technology fails.