Amazon Sells More E-Books Than Hardcovers

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It's not surprising that e-books outsold hardcovers considering the cost of an e-book is 1/3 of a hardcover and the cost of the Kindle is now under $200. I think this may have a positive effect for libraries who still lend hardcovers.

I wonder how this will effect gift giving. Hardcovers make nice gifts, but people may be reluctant to give them as gifts if they are not wanted. I'm not sure if an e-book can be given as a gift in the same way. How do you unwrap an e-book? (I know there's a thing called a gift certificate.)

Maybe the look of hardcovers or the features of them will change in order to make them desirable (and marketable.) Maybe there will be extras in the print version. Heck, maybe it will be the other way around - maybe there will be extras in the print version. Or special features. In any event, I think some type of innovation in coming down the pike that takes advantage of this trend. What? I don't know exactly.

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Stanford Ushers in the Age of Bookless Libraries

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The new Stanford engineering library was recently built and it will no longer house print journals or the 80,000 print books it previously held. The print book collection will contain about 10,000 items.

The reason for this change is that the engineering discipline is changing rapidly and print items aren't the best way to stay current in that field. Much of the research is best done with online journals and e-books. The library is responding to the needs of the engineering folks who use the library.

I don't think the age of the book-less library will be widespread. However, depending on the need of the user, the specific discipline, or the type of item, moving to e-items may make sense.

By the title of the NPR article, you would think book-less libraries were widespread.

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