Electronic Books and Periodicals: A Modern Information Technology

The introduction of electronic publications has revolutionized informatics recently. Modern information devices resulting from the process have, to a large extent, replaced books, namely, the oldest and most commonly used means of giving information. The devices have mostly come not only to be called “book” but to be officially approached as “book” as well. They prove to be of formidable informative nature. Such modern I.T. means as electronic books and periodicals form the basis of digital libraries. The development has occurred as fast as a revolution, reminding one of Gutenberg's second enterprise. The term “electronic book” or E-book refers to a hardware on which a book is read and a software (reader) with which to handle the book E-books can be read just by connecting a certain program to a personal computer. They can also be sought on the internet. Electronic periodicals are incomparably more efficient than paper ones; while the information on the paper is static, the one on electronic devices is dynamic and flexible enough to be updated. The devices are capable of storing great bodies of information in very tiny packages, hence quite portable and much less costly than books. They provide such extraordinary audio-visual teaching facilities as sound, graphic, images, animation and videos. These may be used not only for learning but for entertainment too. Using the internet, E-book readers can search any library in the world for the information they need and then put the information in their own E-books. To sum up, the modern technology has made revolutionary modifications in information type and accessibility.