Numbering the pages

For the past few years, there's been a lot written about the future of publishing.  Some say that the major presses are on their way out.  Others say that all print publishing is going the way of the dinosaur, and that digital books will soon be the majority.  Others point to the growth of indie presses and the opening of new bookstores and see a re-visioning of the publishing industry.

I definitely don't have the answers.  I know that as a librarian, I see an increased usage in Kindles and tablets. Lots of people checking out e-books from the library. Some people moving away from reading full books, and taking more time to read blogs and feeds and writing online.

I also know that Friday night, at Vice's First Friday event, I saw lots of people browsing through our library, holding books in their hands, exclaiming over old favorites or getting excited about titles they hadn't seen before. I catalogued books and watched quietly over the top of my laptop the other day as a guy relaxed and lingered with his coffee and one of our graphic novels. The staff tells me stories of books checked out with enthusiasm, fines delayed ("can I keep it just a little while longer?"), moments of serendipitous browsing.

So it may be anecdotal, my sample size might be small, and of course publishing and readers will evolve, but I'm hard-pressed to believe that print books, with their heft and spines and dog-eared pages, are going away anytime soon.

What do you think?