[13174] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Re: netLibrary
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Berk, Lawrence)
Thu Mar 16 20:03:32 2000
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Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 07:59:36 -0500
From: "Berk, Lawrence" <BerkL@SUNYULSTER.EDU>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
Message-Id: <A519D529B7E5D111B514006008AC63A544404C@UCCC_A2>
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Bravo! Let's also add the quality of the aesthetic experience that books
lend access to...
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Bay [SMTP:mbay@UH.EDU]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2000 11:03 AM
> To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
> Subject: Re: netLibrary
>
> Just a reply to all those people who think ebooks are inevitably going to
> replace paper...when EVERY book ever written by humankind is available,
> when I can go to the beach and not worry about dropping my reader in the
> sand or surf, or about leaving it behind, then I think it will replace the
> print book. Print lasts 2-300 years, more with proper preservation.
> CD-ROMs and other electronic media, 20 tops at this point. You can take a
> book, sit it in storage for 100 years, take it out, and read it. Try that
> with your ebooks. Print books are fairly easily attainable for low-income
> people. Ebook readers certainly aren't. Oh, Microsoft is going to get
> into ebooks? THAT should go well. Bill Gates will dictate what you read
> and how you read it. Or do you think anybody will make small press,
> alternative press, or other "unpopular" books readily available? The
> reading public will be reduced to mass-produced, big budget garbage.
>
> I for one hate to think ebooks will ever replace print. Supplement maybe,
> complement perhaps, but totally replace? I'd bet against it, at least in
> my lifetime.
>
> Anybody remember when they said TV would replace teachers and lots of
> other
> positions? Been about 50 years, and it hasn't happened yet...
>
> Mark
> *************************************************
> Mark T. Bay
> Education / Social Sciences Reference Librarian
> M.D. Anderson Library
> University of Houston
> Houston, TX 77204-2091
>
> (713) 743-9767
> mbay@uh.edu
> *************************************************
