Think Before You Print

Dr. Doug Cook


Think Before You Print

Since April 22, 2011 was National Earth Day, I wanted to highlight a positive trend which I see occurring in academic libraries - the movement toward digital content. Some of you may lament the days when you could come to the library and browse your professional journals in paper. Some of you probably miss that peculiar smell that paper books exude while sitting en masse on the shelves. Nostalgically I miss those days as well, however I am happy to have them all replaced by digital content. Here is why.

Digital scholarship saves trees. Forty years ago when I was in college there was no easy way to do research except by taking notes. In the honored tradition of scholars since the beginning of time, I would hie to the library eagerly searching for that perfect book by browsing the shelves or looking in the card catalog. I discovered useful articles with paper journal indexes. Then I would sit at a library table, reading and taking notes in a notebook (by hand with an actual pen.) When I was finished I would ride my dinosaur home to my cave.

By the time I finally got around to beginning my doctorate in 1985, the previous scenario was still mostly true. Except instead of taking notes in the library, I would xerox what I needed. Then I would take notes on the copied documents. Xeroxing documents revolutionized my research, because my time spent in scholarship was no longer dependent upon having the original document in hand. (In my basement, I still have a very large box of all the articles, etc. I xeroxed for my dissertation. They smell wonderful.)

If you think about this a bit you can easily see how many trees had to be killed for me to get through college and grad school. Think of all the paper items I needed - card catalog, paper journal indexes, books, journals, paper to take notes, copies of all the book chapters and journal articles, etc. etc. Scholars relying on paper kill trees.

Second, digital scholarship becomes easier as you make use of digital resources. The modern scholar in the digital library can choose to go paperless. I have slowly been trying to wean myself off paper. The card catalog, of course, is gone. Paper journal indexes are gone. I no longer take notes on paper - I use a laptop. I deliberately try not to xerox anything. I download articles to my laptop and read them on screen. (By the way, the latest free version of Adobe Reader allows you to highlight text and also take notes on the PDF article and save them digitally.)

So it is possible to be a paperless scholar if you push yourself a bit. Our students, as well, need to learn to navigate the paperless scholarly environment. Paper journals are almost a thing of the past. Printed books will rapidly follow - at least in undergraduate libraries. (Call me in ten years at the Old Folks home if I’m wrong.) Digital journals and books are cheaper to purchase and cheaper to maintain. Although libraries are going digital for pragmatic, rather than altruistic reasons, we are saving trees as well as money.

Digital scholarship is here. We need to embrace it. We need to help our students to become paperless scholars. Encourage them to take notes in class on a laptop. Show them how they can take notes or highlight with Adobe Reader X. Use e-textbooks instead of paper. Require them to hand in their assignments and “papers” digitally via D2L. Don’t produce paper handouts for your students. Encourage them to read the resources onscreen which you have placed on D2L. (You would be amazed at how many times in the library I see students printing out your PowerPoint presentations which you have graciously placed on D2L for them.)

By encouraging your students to become paperless scholars, you will save trees. But also you will help them to understand the very new and rapidly burgeoning world of digital publishing.

Think before you print and ask your students to do so as well.

Contact Doug Cook at dlcook at ship.edu.