On July 16, the News Hour had a very interesting ANALYSIS spot on publishing. Readership seems to be up in libraries although many stores may be seeing fewer sales; even the big stores like Borders; the independent stores and publishers are important; and the "book" doesn't seem to be going away any time soon. The e-books are just another form of distribution, as with audio books, (note what Jonathan Karp and Raphael Sagalyn have to say,) that even new forms like the e-books attention can be good for book sales in general.
I can remember in library school during the early 1980's there was concern for the disappearance of the physical card catalog being replaced by computers, and even books being replaced, and I am glad to say so far the book has held strong. For me, there still isn't anything like holding and reading a book, and as pointed out in another News Hour report on newspapers, the ability to 'search' a paper, a catalog, or a book, by hand, is very user friendly .
