Printed Oxford English Dictionary May Fade Away

It may be the end of the line for the printed Oxford English Dictionary as users find online access more convenient. The online Oxford dictionary gets two million visits a month, while the 1989 print version has sold about 30,000. An analyst said writers have found online dictionaries and word-processing spell checkers more convenient.  If those reference books on the shelf of your home or office are looking rather forlorn these days, there's a reason. Their granddaddy, the Oxford English Dictionary, may never see another printing. Oxford University Press, publisher of the OED, told the Associated Press this weekend that it hasn't been decided if there will ever be another printed edition of the venerable tome. The dictionary, age 126, is still being heavily used -- but online. 750 Pounds for the Full Version The publisher reported that the online version of the OED gets two million visits a month from subscribers. In the U.S., a subscription is $295 annually, while the 750-pound full edition, last published in 1989 and consisting of 20 volumes, costs $1,165 and has sold about 30,000. A single-volume printed version, which weighs a mere 130 pounds, might survive in the near term. But the long-term outlook isn't good. Nigel Portwood, chief executive of Oxford University Press, has predicted that all dictionaries will be online within 30 years. Each new edition takes a decade to accomplish, and the third edition, under construction with a staff of 80, is only about 25 percent finished. Portwood said the print dictionary market is "falling away by tens of percent a year." However, some schools and libraries are still buying the printed version. The online version began in 2000, in part so that it could respond more quickly to changes and additions in the language. Online updates are quarterly, and a historical thesaurus will be added to the online version later this year. The first print dictionary dates back to 1884, with the first full version being printed in 1928. It was the first complete reference of the English language since Samuel Johnson's 1755 dictionary. Gone Within 30 Years Even in its heyday, the printed edition was not a big seller, and the publisher has said the printed OED has never broken even. Michael Gartenberg, partner and analyst with the Altimeter Group, said "you can see the writing on the wall" that the days of massive printed reference volumes are limited. A key reason, he said, is that word-based content creation, and, increasingly, content consumption have moved to digital devices. Gartenberg pointed out that, when writing in a word-processing program -- where the vast majority of writing takes place these days -- it's easier to simply use the accompanying spelling check, as well as online dictionaries and thesauruses. "And many of the new e-books have built-in dictionaries to look up words you might not know," Gartenberg said. "The content continues to be at least as valuable, if not more so, but the cost and lack of convenience for the print medium" is causing that means of delivery to lose its appeal. "We will always need reference materials," he said, "just not printed reference books." © Copyright 2000-2010 NewsFactor Network. All rights reserved.