This is Thinking in Public, a program dedicated to intelligent conversation about

front-line theological and cultural issues with the people who are shaping them.

I'm Albert Molar, your host and president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

in Louisville, Kentucky.

What is the fate of the book in the digital age?

This is a pressing question, not only for librarians, but for all of us who care about

the book.

But who better to talk about this than the librarian of one of the world's greatest libraries.

Robert Darnton was educated at Harvard University and Oxford University

where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

There he did his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1964

and then joined the staff of the New York Times as a reporter.

Later he became a fellow at the Society of Fellows at Harvard.

He taught at Princeton University from 1968 until 2007

when he became the Carl H. Forsheimer University Professor and Director of the University

Library at Harvard.

Robert Darnton, it's an honor to welcome you to thinking in public.

Well thank you for having me. Now I have known of your name for some time, especially as related to the world of libraries and also to French history.

But my curiosity was especially aroused by your new book, The Case for Books, Past, and Future, one of your more recent works.

You are heavily invested in the question of the future of the book, especially in a digital

age, and when a time, frankly, when there are many librarians who seem reluctant to even talk about this,

you're not reluctant at all.

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