Encyclopaedia Britannica is to stop publishing print editions of its flagship
encyclopaedia for the first time since the sets were originally published more
than 200 years ago.
The book-form of Encyclopaedia Britannica has been in print since it was
first published in Edinburgh in 1768. It will stop being available when the
current stock runs out, the company says.
The Chicago-based company will continue to offer digital versions
of the encyclopaedia.
It said the end of the printed, 32-volume set had been foreseen
for some time.
"This has nothing to do with Wikipedia or Google," Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc president Jorge Cauz said. "This has to do with the fact that now Britannica sells its digital products to a large number of people."
The top year for the printed encyclopaedia was 1990, when 120,000
sets were sold, Mr Cauz said. That number fell to 40,000 just six years later in
1996.
The company started exploring digital publishing the 1970s. The
first CD-ROM version was published in 1989 and a version went online in
1994.
The final hardcover encyclopaedia set is available for sale
at Britannica's website for 1,395 dollars (£894).
"The sales of printed encyclopaedias have been negligible for
several years," Mr Cauz said. "We knew this was going to come."
The company plans to mark the end of the print version by making
the contents of its website available free for one week starting on Tuesday.
Online versions of the encyclopaedia now serve more than 100
million people around the world, the company says, and are available on mobile
devices.
The encyclopaedia has become increasingly social as well, Mr Cauz
said, because users can send comments to editors.
"A printed encyclopaedia is obsolete the minute that you print
it," he said. "Whereas our online edition is updated continuously."
Britannica has thousands of experts contributors from around the
world, including Nobel laureates and world leaders such as former US president
Bill Clinton and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It also has a staff of more than 100
editors.
"To me the most important message is that the printed edition was
not what made Britannica," Mr Cauz said. "The most important thing
about Britannica is thatBritannica is relevant and vibrant because it brings
scholarly knowledge to an editorial process to as many knowledge seekers as
possible."
Independant.co.uk
Well I am not surprised that they are going to stop with the print editions. I haven't used physical copies of encyclopaedias since high school. We have our own set at home (I don't know if it's Britannica or something else) and I loved using it when I was in school, I would even read it just for fun because it has so much interesting information but the information (if it's not history) is obsolete and going online or on a CD rom is a lot more convenient now. We also had a copy of encarta once upon a time too and I loved that, I think I'll buy myself another copy now that I think about it.
ReplyDeleteI am happy that the people of Britannica have paid attention to the trends of the world and have thought ahead on how they can continue to be relevant instead of being left behind and forgotten.
Oh looks like Microsoft Encarta is no more..oh well I shall see what Britannica has.
ReplyDeleteIt will be sad to see the print editions go, but my kids prefer to access them either on a cd or online.
ReplyDelete