The Future of Print: Cogitations on Reading

1. The Future of Print:Cogitations on Reading Discussion Fairleigh Dickinson University Library College at Florham October 6, 2007 James W. Marcum, Ph.D. University Librarian

2. Some have “thrown in the towel” • Strategy for maintaining the library: • Complete the migration from print to electronic collections… • Retire legacy print collections (that) makes access available when required. • … • Migrate the focus of collections from purchasing materials to curating content. • David Lewis, (IUPUI), “A Strategy … 21st Century,” College and Research Libraries (Sept. 2007).

3. Robert Darnton:“A marvelous machine…” • “Ever since the invention of the codex in the 3rd or 4th century a.d., it has proven to be a marvelous machine—great for packaging information, convenient to thumb through, comfortable to curl up with, superb for storage, and … resistant to damage. It does not need to be upgraded or downloaded, accessed or booted, plugged in…or extracted. It’s a delight to the eye and a pleasure to hold. And it’s handiness has made it the basic tool of learning for thousands of years.”

4. Proposals for consideration: • The book is for READING • Not all books are EQUAL • Select appropriate FUNCTIONS/USES for book • Not authority, but NARRATIVE • RE-CATEGORIZE and RIGHTSIZE the academic LIBRARY • Adapt to the NET GENERATION • Collect, PUBLISH, PRESENT & PRESERVE the important book.

5. Print book Physical Accessible (stay put) Stacked, spread, carried, Underlined, marked up, annotated Can use art, graphics, and made a beautiful artifact (collectible) Best for long texts Characteristics

6. Traditional Roles/Functionsof the Book: “overused” • Reference information • Dictionaries, Handbooks, Encyclopedias • Compendiums of data, information • Bound magazines, research journals • Education • Memorials • Narratives • Policy and intellectual proposals • Self promotion

7. Print book Physical Accessible (stay put) Stacked, spread, carried, Underlined, marked up, annotated Can use art, graphics, and made a beautiful artifact (collectible) Best for long texts Electronic text Little space, Duplicated at little cost Accessed globally Searched quickly Linked to others Reformatted, revised Best for finding information and short texts Characteristics: 2

8. Future Roles/Functionsof the Book: more focused • Reference information • Dictionaries, Handbooks, Encyclopedias • Compendiums of data, information • Bound magazines, research journals • Education • Memorials • Narratives • Policy and intellectual proposals • Self promotion

9. The text cycleTerje Hillesund, First Monday (Sept ‘07) • All texts have a cycle that includes • Writing • Production • Storage • Representation • Distribution • Reading

10. The text cycleTerje Hillesund, First Monday (Sept 07) • All texts have a cycle that includes • Writing • Production • Storage • Representation • Distribution • Reading • He left out a key ingredient: PRESERVATION

11. The text cycleTerje Hillesund, First Monday (Sept 07) • All texts have a cycle that includes • Writing • Production • Storage • Representation • Distribution • Reading • The parts of the cycle where print has advantages (arguably) is representationand preservation and CLEARLY: reading for meaning • THIS should be our focus, not the other components

12. The text cycleTerje Hillesund, First Monday (Sept 07) • All texts have a cycle that includes • Writing • Production • Storage • Representation • Distribution • Reading (including “selection” for reading) • Preservation

13. “Not all books are equal” The various “functions” of the book are not equal

14. The Authority Factor:Presidents, Pundits, and the Prominent • Bill Gates • Bill Clinton • Tom Brokaw • “Digital Futurists” • Negroponte • Kurzweil

15. great minds, working alone… Modern/Western Intellectual Achievement Adam Smith Descartes Newton Machiavelli Einstein

16. The great libraries offer ... National Palace Library, Lisbon

17. .. an orderly representation of knowledge Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris

18. “GREAT BOOKS”Face New Challenges • From Post-Modernism (questioning the role of the author) • From Feminism (challenging the male chauvenism) • From non-Western cultures(challenging the provincialism and prejudice) • From the technologists (rejecting the format) • Competing in a Visual Culture

19. Levels of Knowledge Cognitive (know-what) book learning Competence (know-how) implementation Understanding (know-why) cause/effect Innovation (care-why) engagement J. B. Quinn, et al., “Managing Professional Intellect,” Harvard Business Review, (March 1996) People (know who) expertise Positioning (know where) strategy Timing (know when) context Donald Norris, et al. “A Revolution in Knowledge Sharing,” Educause Review (Sept. 2003). Forecast (know if) scenarios

20. The New Knowledgeof the day Double helix Human genome WikipediA Open source software Parallel computing

21. The search for today’s knowledge requires searching: • Databases • Laboratory findings • Research reports • Newsletters • Conference proceedings • Blogs, listservs, media news reports and features, institutional repositories, etc., etc. In addition to the traditional print materials collected by libraries.

22. The print book can no longer represent human knowledge as it did for 500 years

23. Book: no longer symbolizes authority;Let’s emphasize NARRATIVE • From a scholarly perspective it is becoming evident that stories provide convenient and useful meaning because they are holistic and therefore more appropriate for a network age when understanding how things are connected is more important than learning about the pieces of the problem. This capacity to escape from linearity and static information is vital for professionals who must deal with uncertainty, making the capability to learn informally, collaboratively, and by self-engagement the critical skill or capability for our day - Fraser and Greenhalgh 2001

24. From 350 years of Descartes’ “I think therefore I am,” TO “I am a part of the networks, and [they] are part of me…. I am visible to Google. I link, therefore I am” Mitchell. Me++. MIT, 2003, 62. Complexity: A New “Identity”

25. CHALLENGE: Visual / Digital Ecology

26. “A visual culture is taking over the world” • Our literacy and communication skills are in decline • We can not take “engaged literacy” for granted… especially among the young • Factors: (beyond media, MTV, etc.) • Slow death of newspaper culture • Upscale design for common goods • Architecture as visual art • Growing influence of fashion • John Naisbitt, Mind Set! (2006): 113-155.

27. Proposals for consideration: 2 • The book is our BRAND (OCLC, Perceptions) • Not all books are EQUAL • Select appropriate FUNCTIONS/USES for book • The book is for READING • Not authority, but NARRATIVE • RE-CATEGORIZE and RIGHTSIZE the academic LIBRARY • Adapt to the NET GENERATION • Collect, PUBLISH, PRESENT & PRESERVE the important book

28. Rightsize the Academic Library • Research Library: a vital national resource requiring recognition & support • Academic Libraries should be categorized • University ~ 1 M v + • Comprehensive Univ. ~ 500,000 v + • College ~ 100-500,000 v • Learning Centers ~ 50-100,000 v • End “prestige creep;” be what we are and end the “growth” imperative. It’s time to think about “sustainability”

29. Gadgets Rule on College Campuses By Paul Davidson, CHAPEL HILL, N.C. —The American college campus, long an oasis of scholarship and coming-of-age, is now being transformed by a more palpable force: an armada of laptops, cell phones and perpetual connectivity. Different Student Generation “ Our call phones often serve as web browsers, digital phones, and game consoles” - “Net gen” "Millennials" Youth Abandoning Old Media

30. Basically, everything happens on these screens -- I search, I read, I write, I converse (both text and voice). I can't imagine working without the Internet. So I find myself in a dilemma when I go to the library, because I am cut off from my "work." I go into the stacks, perhaps with a scribbled call number, and I (give up) capabilities than I have in my office. If I don't find the book I can't check to see if the call number is correct; I can't look (for) a "second best" book; I can't (locate) another area of the stacks where I might find something I'd like to read; and I can't search within the text of the bound volumes in front of me even if digitized versions are available on-line. I stand there wishing I could go on-line. Adapted from Karen Coyle, Wishlist, Coyles Information.

31. We need to look beyond • Books and materials • Information commons • Study spaces and hi-tech facilities • And consider new capabilities and roles…

32. Print on Demand

33. Considering: • We’re in New Jersey, one of the most dynamic regions of the country, and where a good part of the history—from Washington’s winter HQs to 19th Century industrialization to modern business, public sector, and cultural innovation have occurred. • Let’s do a better job of capturing, making available, and preserving that legacy.

34. Why not… • If 10 or 20 libraries created an entity to review, select, publish, and reprint books on that legacy—and other regional accomplishments—and pooled $5,000 or $10,000 each annually, we could publish 100 copies of 100 books for our use (and sale to others) • And assure that “important” (to us) books survive

35. What do YOU think? James W. Marcum marcum@fdu.edu