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The Future of Books Is... Interactive (and Libraries Might Help)
May 20, 2008

Inspired by a test with the impressive but not too innovative Kindle ebook reader, Ezra Klein has a fascinating article in the current issue of the Columbia Journalism Review on the future of e-books, headlined The Future of Reading. As a reader of books, and potentially a writer of them, I welcome the concept of a living, hyperlinked electronic text that can be updated--despite the challenge that poses to the publishing system and its role in vetting manuscripts--and the possibility that communities of readers could react to books in the same way that they currently comment on article or blogs.

"How much easier a dense work of philosophy would be if we could communicate with others struggling through the same chapters, and even be helped along by the author," Klein writes. "Already, a popular application on Facebook, Visual Bookshelf, has roughly thirty thousand daily users. It allows your friends to see what books you’re reading, how you’ve rated them, and any reviews you feel like posting."

At the same time, we all know that the Internet brings chaff with the wheat, and that no one wants to read all the comments on an article, much less a book. Even though Klein doesn't get to this in his article, I wonder if one role for libraries in the future--the not-too-distant future--should be to organize and improve the process for communities of readers to discuss the books they read.

Posted by Norman Oder on May 20, 2008 | Comments (0)