SESSION 29: TEXT FOR WEDNESDAY 16th MAY
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA ENDS PRINT EDITION
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THE TEXT:
Encyclopaedia Britannica, the world’s most famous set of reference books, has decided to stop printing its 32-volume collection. The decision ends a 244-year history of the iconic printed edition. Instead, it will focus on its online version and try to fend off competition from other web-based encyclopaedias. The company has recently launched a digital encyclopaedia for iPads and other tablet devices. Officials said the end of the physical books had been foreseen for many years, although they played down the impact of Internet sites. Britannica president Jorge Cauz said: “This has nothing to do with Wikipedia or Google…This has to do with the fact that now Britannica sells its digital products to a large number of people.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica was first brought out in 1768 in Scotland. It moved its headquarters to Chicago in 1935. It sold door-to-door for generations, selling more than seven million sets. Sales plummeted with the advent of CD-ROM encyclopaedias and then the Internet. Web-based resources can be updated overnight, whereas it takes Britannica a decade to produce a new version. It was last printed in 2010 and there are still 4,000 sets left, selling for $1,395 each. Mr Cauz admitted that: “In many instances doing a keyword search in an online resource is simply a lot faster then standing up looking at the index of the Britannica and then finding the appropriate volume.”
'Encyclopaedia Britannica Ends Print Edition' - 17th March, 2012
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