| Title | Digital vs. Print: Reading Comprehension and the Future of the Book
| | Authors | Tanner, M.,J.
| | Journal | School of Information Student Research Journal. - Vol 4 (2). http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/slissrj/vol4/iss2/6
| | Year of publishing | 2014
| | Abstract | Recent sales data indicate that the meteoric rise of the digital book, and a consequent fall in purchases of traditional books, may have subsided. It seems likely that, at least in the short term, digital book sales will settle somewhere between 10% and 20% of the total market (Milliot, 2014). Cultural forecasters are again considering the possibility that print books will survive into the future, along with libraries as the ubiquitous brick-and-mortar institutions that lend books, in addition providing all the technology-based services that have come to define them in recent years. In an effort to determine what books and libraries might look like in the future, this article compiles current research on how reading comprehension is impacted by each of the three current reading platforms: print books, e-books, and books downloaded onto smartphones or computers. Although future advances in digital technologies will continue to enhance the convenience and ease with which e-books and computer texts are read, comprehension still seems to be the best indicator of the relative presence of each reading platform in years to come. If, because of superior optics, cognitive availability, or metacognitive suitability, one platform seems superior to the others, it may be assumed that it would dominate the book market in the future. If, as seems more likely, each platform is best suited for the comprehension requirements of different readers in different situations, the question of the future of books and libraries will remain complicated, yet still be more predictable. What seems definite at the outset is that, before making major investments in digital books and ereaders, librarians should be well aware of the strengths and limitations of the electronic platforms for the reading brain, regardless of short-term trends in the retail book market.
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