NYSL: "The Book Is Dead! Long Live The Book!"

http://www.nysoclib.org/notes/2008/book_dead.html

How have computers and the Internet altered the use of books? What do changes in the publishing world mean for libraries and readers? Will new work, research, and reading habits make libraries or even books themselves unrecognizable?

The Society Library considered these issues during National Library Week 2008, a particularly appropriate time to reevaluate commitments to books and libraries while valuing the contributions developing technology can make.

These questions and others are discussed by a distinguished panel including two of the country's leading authorities on books and libraries, moderated by author Maggie Jackson.

Michael Gorman recently retired as Dean of Library Services at California State University, Fresno and has taught at library schools in Britain and the United States. He has been a major participant in the creation and updating of the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, the primary reference work for book catalogers throughout the English-speaking world. The author of hundreds of articles in professional and scholarly journals, he is also the recipient of numerous awards from library organizations and served as President of the American Library Association in 2006-2007.

James G. Neal is Vice-President for Information Services and University Librarian at Columbia University, providing leadership for a system of 25 libraries. Among his many accomplishments is service on the Council and Executive Board of the American Librarian Association, speeches and publications at national and international conferences, and representation of the American library community on copyright matters before Congressional committees.

Maggie Jackson is an award-winning writer and Boston Globe columnist who writes often about the social impact of technology on our lives. She is the author of What's Happening to Home? Balancing Work, Life and Refuge in the Information Age, and the forthcoming Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• The New York Society Library
• The Book is Dead
• Michael Gorman
• James G. Neal
• Maggie Jackson
• 2008
• April

[pawsoned]

It's a very relevant discussion and it's interesting to observe how technology will impact a traditional book. There are no two ways about the fact that nowadays paper editions are on the wane and most of reading takes place on a computer screen. One important issue that wasn't mentioned by the second speaker is how detrimental for the environment is, or rather was, the paper book.