Beyond print: reading digitally

Abstract

The development of reader devices and improvement of screen technology have made reading on screens less cumbersome. Our acts of reading are not univocal, as we read in many different ways with many different goals in mind. Reader software can provide different levels of navigation support for the manipulation of digital text, presenting capabilities for analytic reading not available in the print‐on‐paper reading experience and compensating for our lack of orientation and feeling of omnipotent dominance of text. The parameters of e‐text reading and the issues of access remain central to readers and researchers, whether the electronic text is designed and packaged as an “e‐book” for portable reading devices, or resides on a server for distribution to library terminals to be downloaded to desktop PCs, laptops or tablet PCs. The power and functionality of reading software – note‐taking, highlighting and indexing capabilities, robust open searching across databases – are ultimately linked to open access issues: interoperability, text standards, and digital rights management. These remain key questions for libraries, publishers and researchers.