ELL

[steven.cramer at duke.edu]

On the impact of Amazon.com and its peers, here is an interesting statistic from
page 128 of the current issue of Brill's Content:

1.5 Percentage of Americans who say they obtain the books they read by buying
them via the Internet.

3.9 Percentage of Americans who say they obtain the books they read by buying
them at garage or yard sales.

(source: Maritz AmeriPoll, Feb. 1999)

Perhaps libraries should consider forming the world's largest garage sale.

Steve Cramer
Reference Librarian
Perkins Library, Duke University
Durham, NC USA
steven.cramer at duke.edu