Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. . . . Just get people to
stop reading them.' What form of reading will be the prevalent form in
the 21st century is a moot point. As e-devices increase in efficiency of
delivery and they and their content decrease in price, then the modes of
transmission will influence patterns of reading behaviour.
However, who will own what we read, and at what price, particularly
in the academic world? When I worked in the Bodleian Library, Oxford,
new readers had to read an introductory statement which includes the
words: 'I hereby undertake not to . . . kindle therein any fire'. Back to
Fahrenheit 451
? The Amazon Kindle reader and Google Book Search
both bring many advantages in terms of access to a variety of text and
form, but we need at the same time to continue kindling the flames of
public access to knowledge to ensure the digital era provides as many
opportunities for the freedom of expression as possible.
The challenge for 21st-century scholarship, which includes e-books,
is to implement an infrastructure for the digital world untrammelled by
the historical legacies in the frameworks and costings of print culture.
In academic monograph and textbook production, digital online access
will become the norm, more often than not supplemented by data and
multimedia additions. Print, however, will not die, given the likely
explosion of cheap POD outlets. Readers will still be able to judge a
book by its POD cover.
E-book futures are still clearly evolving, and cost and ease of access
will be crucial issues. However, a discernible trend is emerging with OA
e-book environments. If e-outputs and their impacts become embedded
in promotion and tenure and research assessment exercises, then more
institutions will assume responsibility for harvesting and providing
global access to their scholarship, scholarship that combines authority
with public accessibility. A suitable vision for the 21st century? 'Let
those who are not old, - who are still young, ponder this well' (Trollope,
1866).
References
AAU (Association of American Universities) et al. (2009)
The University's Role in the
Dissemination of Research and Scholarship: a call to action
,
www.arl.org/bm~doc/disseminating-research-feb09.pdf.
