I'd therefore like to ask some questions about the principles that should guide us as we begin work on the next generation of reference works. We can arrange titles along a rough continuum. At the other end are the most referency of reference books, whose sole value is their information, irrespective of the form in which it's delivered.
Computers are perfect for that sort of thing.
The question is where CBEL falls on the spectrum. Still, whatever the future of digital novels and Rocket eBooks, the computerized reference book is here to stay. The current generation of graduate students will probably be the first never to handle the National Union Catalogue 's 800 volumes, or the massive printed catalogues of the New York Public Library or the British Library. The disappearance of printed reference books may please us, depress us, or leave us indifferent, but it's probably a fact with which we have to reckon. So rather than debating whether , let's turn our attention to why .