Print on demand means just that. A work is stored electronically on a disk. When someone wants to buy a copy, in goes an order to a book-making machine and out comes a book for packing and shipping. For many authors the technology is a godsend because their books will be available for future generations. But for others in academe, Bugeja writes, the technology raises ethical and legal issues, some of which are so potentially serious, they can impede a professor's productivity.
Publishers hail the technology because it eliminates warehousing costs.
In the past, these books would have gone out of print because standard printing costs were too high to justify new print runs. However, the technology is a nightmare for authors of works requiring regular updates or new editions, including textbooks in engineering, science, medical science, social science and, ironically, new media and information technology, Bugeja writes. Publishers are under no obligation to approve new editions, especially if a work has not sold as many copies as marketers had anticipated. In such a situation, Bugeja explains, a book used to lapse out of print, with all rights reverting to authors. Then the authors could revise and resell their books to new publishers and continue their research.