Publishing and Digital World: Encyclopaedia Britannica goes completely digital

Encyclopaedia Britannica - the oldest English-language encyclopedia - is going to stop printing books and become a digital edition.

After 244 years, Encyclopaedia Britannica will cease production of its multi-volume book sets to become “completely digital”, the statement of the Encyclopaedia Britannica reads. “It’s the latest step in our evolution from the print publisher we were, to the creator of digital learning products we are today”, said Jorge Cauz, president of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Encyclopaedia Britannica is the oldest English-language universal encyclopedia which was originally published in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1768 and has been in print continuously ever since. Since then “Britannica” has produced 15 multi-volume book sets.

The company created the first digital version of the Britannica in 1981. It published the first multimedia encyclopedia on CD-ROM in 1989 and the first encyclopedia on the Internet in 1994. At present, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica, online encyclopedia has some 100 million users.

In 1997 Encyclopaedia Britannica announced its intention to completely become digital. However the company gave up the idea then.