Charleston Briefings: Trending Topics for Information Professionals is a thought-provoking series of brief books concerning innovation in the sphere of libraries, publishing, and technology in scholarly communication. The briefings, growing out of the vital conversations characteristic of the Charleston Conference and Against the Grain, will offer valuable insights into the trends shaping our professional lives and the institutions in which we work.
 
The Charleston Briefings are written by authorities who provide an effective, readable overview of their topics—not an academic monograph. The intended audience is busy nonspecialist readers who want to be informed concerning important issues in our industry in an accessible and timely manner.

How is reading changing in the digital environment? How will it continue to change? Are we headed for an all- digital future? Or does print still have a place in the reading environment? Does format matter? What do readers tell us they want? This brief monograph offers librarians, publishers, vendors, and others an overview of these key issues as well as advice on how their institutions should approach the print versus digital controversy.

David M. Durant is Associate Professor and Federal Documents and Social Sciences Librarian at J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. He holds a master’s of science degree in library and information services from the School of Information, University of Michigan, and an MA in history from the University of California, Los Angeles. He has published articles in portal, Library Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Against the Grain. He has written book reviews for Against the Grain and for Choice.