The IMPACT OF MECHANIZATION ON The BOOK WORLD

We must first stop and think whether there will be a future for the book world. The book has been in use for hundreds of years, as a medium for communicating information, but it is now meeting fiercer and fiercer competition. When television first became widely used, there were prophecies that the sales of books would diminish. Now we have colour television and video‐tape recording. Perhaps we shall soon be able to borrow a video‐tape of Ivanhoe or even the latest novel from the public library. The use of audio‐visual aids is growing fast, particularly in schools. Language laboratories, and teaching machines sometimes coupled with computers, are on the increase. Computer installations are increasing in number and scope even faster than the experts predict. We hear of plans for data bases for vast on‐line data banks. I am told that the main reason that Leasco took over Pergamon was to obtain Pergamon's journals for a data base.