Is Print Dying?

“Print is dead.” That line usually got a big laugh when audiences heard it declared by Egon (played by Harold Ramis) in the 1984 movie Ghostbusters. The laughter fades as the humorous dialogue becomes closer and closer to reality. I have become quite comfortable with my eReader, now wondering why I ever thought it was a good idea to lug a bag of books along to every vacation destination. Fewer people extol the virtues of turning the pages of a “real” book when they consider the price differential between a hardback and the same work in electronic format. The financial benefits of ebooks in academic settings could be staggering. Imagine a world where high school students had a fully loaded eReader instead of a backpack full of heavy hardbacks. How many trees could be saved? How quickly could updates to a text book be implemented, pushed out to eReaders instead of waiting for thousands of revised paper books to be printed? Schools could perhaps eliminate student lockers, freeing up space and reducing the need for drug-sniffing dogs to roam the halls checking for contraband. Egon is morphing from amusing to prophetic. Who knew?