Whereas now, with the world at your fingertips by using the internet, you don't need to spend time exploring encyclopedias."īefore the internet was available in homes in the mid to late 20th century, families purchased encyclopedias, often from door-to-door salesmen at exorbitant costs. "There was a time when you couldn't connect to the rest of the world and encyclopedias gave you that insight and they contained what people knew about everything. "Encyclopedias were the original worldwide web," said Jason Hilton, associate professor secondary education and foundations of education. Students first reaction now is to Google a topic, but before (the internet) the first reaction was to go to an encyclopedia."Īlthough printed encyclopedias, particularly the most scholarly Encyclopedia Britannica, are rarely used, they once served as an essential reference tool at all levels of education, paving the way for the convenient and inexpensive digital sources. "Everyone uses the computer for a quick, initial inquiry. "By that time, it wasn't missed," said Lynn Hoffmann, SRU assistant professor of library and research services librarian. After all, Encyclopedia Britannica discontinued its printed editions in 2010 and the last edition on the shelf at SRU's Bailey Library is from 2007. The Encyclopedia Britannica is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year, but at schools like Slippery Rock University few students are likely to recall ever opening an encyclopedia, let alone appreciating that the most venerated encyclopedia was first published in 1768. Encyclopedia Britannica was first published 250 years ago. "It just makes sense to embrace our digital products," he said.Lynn Hoffmann, Slippery Rock University assistant professor of library and research services librarian, accesses Bailey Library’s copy of the first edition Encyclopedia Britannica. Online versions of the encyclopedia now serve more than 100 million people around the world and are available on mobile devices, the company said. Though the scarcity of the 2010 edition may be making it popular, the company has long known that the print sales were never going to come back to anything approaching the peak year of 1990 when 120,000 were sold.īritannica, which published the first CD-ROM edition in 1989, introduced an online version in 1994. If that sounds like a lot of money, secondary sellers online are asking more than $3,200 a set for the 2010 edition - and that's before the company has run out of the ones it has.ĭuckler said the sudden spike in sales hasn't prompted anyone at Britannica to rethink the decision to discontinue selling the print edition. He added that Britannica - which first published its book form encyclopedia in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1768 - will hold onto a few sets so they can be displayed somehow or donated to museums.Īs they did before the announcement, the sets are selling for $1,395. The company will likely sell out by the end of the month, Duckler said.
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