TRU Open Learning's Blog

A study authored by Geneva Henry and Lisa Spiro of Houston-based Rice University, indicates that libraries are heading in the direction of primarily digital infrastructures but at a slow rate. The paper, which looks at campus-based efforts to build new libraries oriented to a digital future, states that because faculty members are unwilling to conform to a digital only library collection and because the “e-reader” market is unprepared for the current state of e-books, it might take up to half a century for digital libraries to be a reality.

“Although some e-book standards such as ePub are beginning to emerge, there is still significant flux and divergence from those standards,” Henry and Spiro write. “Standards are important in enabling consumers to read content from multiple publishers on their devices, to move content around to multiple devices, and to preserve books for the long-term.” While e-books will likely become a norm in higher education within the next decade, the reality is they do not convey the same experience of a traditional book such as offering the ability to photocopy, write in margins, highlight sections and bookmark pages. However, advantages of searchability of electronic documents and databases do persist as a real advantage over traditional print books. Other advantages are related to the cost savings as print collections require preservation controls while e-books do not require space or maintenance.