Pros for Electronic Publishing
E-books save paper and ink.
E-books save space. Thousands of E-books can be stored in the space of one bound book.
E-books never go out-of-print.
E-book websites can include the ability to translate a work into many languages.
E-books can be instantly accessed from home without travel or delays.
E-readers can have features that allow reading in the dark, changing text fonts, or may have text-to-speech software for the elderly or blind.
Once the E-reader is obtained, the cost of individual E-books is less than printed books.
E-publishing makes it easier for authors to self-publish.
There are many free E-books. Anything written before 1900 is in the public domain, and current authors often offer selections for free in order to promote themselves. (1)
Cons for Electronic Publishing
Ebook formats and file types continue to develop and change through time through advances and developments in technology or the introduction of new proprietary formats. While printed books remain readable for many years, e-books may need to be copied or converted to a new carrier or file type over time. PDF and epub are growing standards, but are not universal.
Authors may not receive royalties equivalent to the use of their work.
Not all books are available as e-books. (2)
E-books do not provide the tactile sensations of a physical book, and cannot be wrapped as a present.
E-books provide samples to readers, introducing a possibility of readers grazing through many samples of work rather than ever actually reading a book from start to finish. Just as the spelling shortcuts used in texting have made it unclear whether our future generations will be able to spell correctly, the electronic book could change future generations to speedy grazers instead of readers. (3)
A book doesn't run out of power.
Documents in electronic form may degrade over time or become obsolete.
E-readers can't be dropped and must be protected from extreme temperatures and electromagnetic pulses and surges that do not effect books.
E-readers can malfunction and lose data.
E-readers are not biodegradable like the paper in books, and will hold toxic waste issues in the future.
E-books and software track data such as times, usage, pages, and details about what one is reading and how often. (Big Brother is watching.) (4)
Bibliography (For a description of each reference, please see Bibliography page in sidebar)
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-book
(2) Weiss, Laura. "Buildings, books, and bytes: Libraries and communities in the digital age."
APLIS 10, no. 3: 163, 1997. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed July 1, 2011).
(3) Borawski, C. "Beyond the Book: Literacy in the Digital Age." Children & Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children 7, no. 3: 53-54, 2009. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed July 1, 2011).
(4) Herther, Nancy K. "The Ebook Reader Is Not the Future of Ebooks." Searcher 16, no. 8: 26-40, 2008. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed July 1, 2011).
E-books save paper and ink.
E-books save space. Thousands of E-books can be stored in the space of one bound book.
E-books never go out-of-print.
E-book websites can include the ability to translate a work into many languages.
E-books can be instantly accessed from home without travel or delays.
E-readers can have features that allow reading in the dark, changing text fonts, or may have text-to-speech software for the elderly or blind.
Once the E-reader is obtained, the cost of individual E-books is less than printed books.
E-publishing makes it easier for authors to self-publish.
There are many free E-books. Anything written before 1900 is in the public domain, and current authors often offer selections for free in order to promote themselves. (1)
Cons for Electronic Publishing
Ebook formats and file types continue to develop and change through time through advances and developments in technology or the introduction of new proprietary formats. While printed books remain readable for many years, e-books may need to be copied or converted to a new carrier or file type over time. PDF and epub are growing standards, but are not universal.
Authors may not receive royalties equivalent to the use of their work.
Not all books are available as e-books. (2)
E-books do not provide the tactile sensations of a physical book, and cannot be wrapped as a present.
E-books provide samples to readers, introducing a possibility of readers grazing through many samples of work rather than ever actually reading a book from start to finish. Just as the spelling shortcuts used in texting have made it unclear whether our future generations will be able to spell correctly, the electronic book could change future generations to speedy grazers instead of readers. (3)
A book doesn't run out of power.
Documents in electronic form may degrade over time or become obsolete.
E-readers can't be dropped and must be protected from extreme temperatures and electromagnetic pulses and surges that do not effect books.
E-readers can malfunction and lose data.
E-readers are not biodegradable like the paper in books, and will hold toxic waste issues in the future.
E-books and software track data such as times, usage, pages, and details about what one is reading and how often. (Big Brother is watching.) (4)
Bibliography (For a description of each reference, please see Bibliography page in sidebar)
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-book
(2) Weiss, Laura. "Buildings, books, and bytes: Libraries and communities in the digital age."
APLIS 10, no. 3: 163, 1997. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed July 1, 2011).
(4) Herther, Nancy K. "The Ebook Reader Is Not the Future of Ebooks." Searcher 16, no. 8: 26-40, 2008. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed July 1, 2011).
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