Media expert Bob Sacks to discuss the future of books, reading and libraries
Do physical books have a future? How about libraries? What about reading itself?
Those questions and more will be addressed by Bob Sacks—media consultant, e-columnist and lecturer—in a talk entitled “The Past, Present & Future of Libraries & Reading” at the Roe Jan Library, 3 PM, Saturday, May 12. A discussion will follow. The talk is free and all are welcome.
Sacks’ 45 minute presentation will review 25,000 years of intellectual history by exploring the technological past, present and future of reading and publishing. In a preview of his talk, Sacks notes that “in the 21st century, there has been a subtle social change that is often missed – it is now far more important to know how to search for a fact then to actually know a fact. Being smart,” he says, “is now about our ability to seek out information in seconds anywhere we are on the planet. What is the impact to society,” asks Sacks, “when everyone is a knowledge ‘genius’?”
Inducted into the Publishing Hall of Fame in 2012, Sacks is CEO of Precision Media Group, a private consulting firm that publishes “Heard on the Web: Media Intelligence.” The daily e-newsletter delivers pertinent industry news to a diverse, worldwide publishing community of over 15,000 media industry leaders, and is the world’s longest running e-newsletter.
Sacks says that one of the topics of his talk will be the impact that electronic books are having on the publishing world and on individual readers. “Ebooks went from nothing to a billion-dollar market in a few short years. Streaming everything from the cloud is becoming the preferred way to take in films, TV, music, books and magazines,” he said. “Does this mean the death of the physical ownership, and the possession of things?”
Known locally as the publisher of the weekly Copake Chronicle, Sacks was twice elected to the Copake Town Council and has served as liaison to the Roe Jan Library and the Copake Economic Advisory Board.
Sacks is also a columnist and lecturer who speaks regularly to media and marketing industry groups with the good and bad news about what he calls “El-CID” – Electronically Coordinated Information Distribution. He is also a founding partner of mediaIDEAS, a company that provides research and guidance to the paginated media industry.
After several years in the alternative press publishing newspapers in New York and Tucson, Az., Sacks went on to become one of the founding fathers of High Times Magazine. His has also served on the boards of directors of such companies as McCall’s, Time Inc, New York Times Magazine Group, International Paper, Ziff-Davis, CMP, and Bill Communications (VNU).