Moving Books Off-Site and E-Books; An OnGoing Struggle

In an article, "E-Library Economics", recently published in Inside Higher Education Steve Kolowich discusses two studies due to be published in April by the Council on Library and Information Resources that examine the implications of shifting to digital library collections. While the authors of the two studies "acknowledge that libraries seem to be headed in the direction of primarily digital infrastructures, they also note that the journey is slow going." The main challenge to moving large quantities of books off-site is the recalcitrance of academics. Though the latter embrace the searchability of electronic databases and other digital resources, they "still prefer holding a book in their hands to read it."