If libraries do not charge for electronic books, not only can they not reap rewards commensurate with their own increasing importance, but libraries can also put publishers out of business with free competition. If libraries do charge, that will disenfranchise people from information – a horrible thing. There is no obvious compromise … Compromise is badly needed – the technology is on the verge of transforming the great libraries’ vision of paradise into a global reality.
Predictor: Browning, John
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 article for Wired magazine, John Browning takes a look at the future of libraries in a networked age. He writes:”If libraries do not charge for electronic books, not only can they not reap rewards commensurate with their own increasing importance, but libraries can also put publishers out of business with free competition. If libraries do charge, that will disenfranchise people from information – a horrible thing. There is no obvious compromise. It is not really satisfactory either to cripple the technology so that libraries’ digitized texts can be read on-screen, say, but not stored; or to divvy information into two categories: the free (paid for by the taxpayer) and the commercial (paid for by the consumer). But compromise is badly needed – the technology is on the verge of transforming the great libraries’ vision of paradise into a global reality.”
Biography:John Browning served as executive editor of Wired UK, the English-language European edition of Wired, the magazine established to chronicle the digital revolution. Prior to Wired, Browning spent 12 years at The Economist, writing about business, technology and economics. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1993
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: Libraries/Databases
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Libraries Without Walls for Books Without Pages: Electronic Libraries and the Information Economy
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.01/libraries_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Stotler, Larry