I have seen the future of reading, and its name is Kindle

Those of you old enough to remember may recall that on October 27, 1975, Bruce Springsteen made the covers of both Newsweek and Time. In one of the accompanying articles, Jon Landau, a critic for Rolling Stone, declared "I have seen the future of rock and roll, and his name is Bruce Springsteen." Well, although not on the cover, Kindle 2, Amazon’s digital reader, was featured in the March 30, 2009 issues of both Newsweek and Time, and once again it seems fair to claim that we are seeing the future here.

Several years ago, when the first speculations were voiced that books were dead, killed by digital readers, I scoffed. But now, although I’ve not (yet) used a Kindle, I believe that it’s only a matter of time before we are all using digital devices to pursue our reading. Already the advantages of a Kindle are clear, such as adjustable font size, an on board dictionary which allows looking up unfamiliar words while reading, and the ability to carry around up to 1,500 books in a small, light-weight package. (Imagine students no longer lugging around 30 pound book bags because all of their reading materials are on their digital reader!)

Are books dead -- probably not. There are some things for which paper seems to be (inherently?) better suited, such as graphics. Art books and picture books are not going away tomorrow, or even next year. I expect that digital and print will coexist as complementary technologies because they each possess individual, unique strengths. I also expect that many of us who are old enough to have read those articles in Newsweek and Time about the Boss in 1975 may never give up the comfort and familiarity of holding, reading and owning books. But for those who have grown up reading text on computers there is an “of course-ness” that applies to digital readers. It is just the way things are.

All of this has enormous implications for libraries. Digital technology has already transformed libraries. (Remember card catalogs? Can't come into the David A. Nims Library at this moment? Well, you can search the catalog right now here.) EBooks and online databases bring library resources to you wherever you have Internet access. And just as the Internet hasn't made libraries obsolete but rather, more accessible, more necessary and more vital, digital readers will dramatically increase library circulations. When we're no longer amassing walls of books in our homes to represent our personal interests and our educational and cultural achievements, but we want books just to read, why would we pay for a digital download when we can borrow it from our library for free?

We're still at the beginning with all of this, and our sense of what will develop in the future is only emerging, but with the theoretical prospect of having "every book ever printed, in any language, all available in under 60 seconds" [Note: this is Amazon's stated goal with the Kindle], this is a very interesting time.