Will Books Be Different?

With all the attention on ebooks and ereaders in the consumer and trade markets, it is easy to conclude that the transition to reliance on scholarly ebooks will happen very quickly. This article takes a historical look at the leading factors that supported the print-to-electronic transition for journals to assess whether the environment is conducive to a rapid transition for books. Several of those factors, such as a much more constrained economic environment, competing proprietary formats for ebooks and ebook readers, and the lack of specialized capabilities that directly support academic research, combine to reduce the appeal of ebooks for users and therefore are likely to slow the transition. Librarians and publishers should pay special attention to usage data and the behavior of users and provide support during this period.