Re: Closing the book: RIP for the OED

In Reply to: Re: Closing the book: RIP for the OED posted by Gary Martin on September 01, 2010 at 10:25:

: : : : : : Under the above headline today's Sunday Times contained an article which read:
: : : : : : "A TEAM of 80 has been working on it for the past 21 years, but now the lexicographers compiling the
: : : : : : third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary are being told that it will never appear in print.
: : : : : : The dictionary's owner, Oxford University Press (OUP), has said that the impact of the internet means
: : : : : : the latest update to the definitive record of the English language will never be published as a book......."

: : : : : Wow.

: : : : There will be an Internet publication, as there is now, but no paper, printed, one.

: : : I can think of a lot of limitations to just an online publication. But I guess it cuts down on dusting your books/bookshelves.

: : It will also cost!

: It will cut down on reinforcing bookshelves too. The last time I spied an OED in the flesh it needed a truck to move it around.

: I hope UK libraries continue to offer it for free as a public service. Given the state of library finances, I somehow doubt that.

I have an old Book of the Month Club version -- two volumes, four page images to a page. (Comes with a magnifying glass.) And it is still kind of massive.