We are afraid of the letting go that chaos requires, because we believe our world will fall apart without strict control. Locked into long doctoral tracks, they have little negotiating power. And when they finally secure that doctorate, the new Ph.D.s find themselves part of a glut on the market, one that puts universities in the driver's seat. Big brains, no gains. It is just as successful when it involves fonts dancing across a computer screen as it is with handset type on the brittle pages of a 300 year-old book.
Public libraries are evidence that the reading habit is alive and well.
During the thousands of years that human beings have been communicating through the written word, the delivery mechanism has changed, but the essential messages have not. We are still telling each other how business is going, who's doing what, and how we feel about it. And whether you're ultimately reading these words on a piece of paper or on an illuminated screen, you're still getting the message. How technology reshapes the reading habit. As we approach the year 2000, we can be thankful we are no longer being scapegoated.