C&C10: Print and Prejudice: what’s the next chapter?

Event Details

Attitudes to print books, post-Covid, are as complex and varied as the books themselves. Whilst the staple of public libraries, some academic libraries have implemented large scale ‘weeding projects’ and reduced their purchase ratios, to maximise the space available to them – filling that space with study areas and ‘calm zones’ instead of physical product.

But how is the balance being found? How do we measure the usage of print within the library, as opposed to just measuring loans? How deep is too deep when calculating what to buy? How much does this influence supplier and publisher behaviour – with a rise in Print On Demand titles at high costs.

Reports of the death of the print book are over-exaggerated, to paraphrase Mark Twain, but what is the next chapter and how can we influence it?

Open to NAG Members only as part of our Coffee and Chat series.