Twenty-first International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Up to just a few years ago, the threat of a book going Out of Print (OP) called up the specter of bibliodeath. For readers and scholars, it meant that libraries would be their primary point of access; for authors, it meant that the revenue stream from the title had dried up; and for publishers, it meant that the book was no longer distributed by them to book stores and other customers. Moreover, OP dug an even deeper hole in publishing when considered in conjunction with US tax-law. Prior to the late 1970s, books returned to the publisher could be stored in warehouses and depreciated for tax credit. However, after the IRS’s Thor-Power-Tool decision in the late 1970s rescinded tax credit for warehoused books, it became less profitable for corporate publishers to warehouse books that did not sell. Still, the digitization of books by Project-Gutenberg and others has sent a lot of OP books into the digital realm where they are now openly accessible. Furthermore, since most books published today are produced on digital platforms, their passage into the world of eBooks is nothing more than a brief step in the publishing process when compared to the effort required to scan a book in preparation for digital dissemination. But if OP no longer means out of existence, what does it signify at a time when the advent of digital books provides a stable lifeline for the continuing existence of books that go OP?