Academic literature on the topic 'Encyclopedias and dictionaries, Japanese – Fiction'

This paper aims to describe about the process of acquisition at Tunas Aulia Library, Primary School of Syuhada Mosque. Methods of data collection through interviews and observations with the type of research that is qualitative descriptive. This paper identifies and describes some of the implications of the acqusition in Tunas Aulia Library are purchases, donations, deposits, making or printing in the form of bulletins, and prizes. Collections held to support students’ information needs include textbooks, fiction books, non-fiction, encyclopedias, and various dictionaries. Acquisition of collections is only a collection of printed books, not digital collections.

Sergey Yesenin could get the idea of a thing as an object of science from the lectures of professors of the Moscow City People’s University named after A.L. Shanyavsky while studying at the historical and philosophical department in 1913-1915. At that time, the term “thing” was used in law and philosophy, which was reflected in explanatory dictionaries and encyclopedias. Yesenin attended lectures mainly on literature, and in his subsequent work the word “thing” appears regularly, but only in journalism and letters. The term “thing” was widely used in criticism in the first quarter of the 20th century, and Yesenin’s friends recalled the poet’s use of this word in conversations. The purpose of this article is to analyze the items of the “clothing code” from an artistic and philosophical position in Yesenin’s poem “The White Zipun and the Scarlet Sash...”, understanding them as “things”. Conclusion. The zipun and the sash are folk festive clothing, with its regional names, they have a long tradition of reflecting them in fiction, and in Yesenin they emphasize the event time and the emotional experiences of the hero.

The purpose of the study was to create a methodological model of a differentiated learning process while making historical and cultural comments during the lessons in Literature and Literature-based reading. The differentiated approach should take into account not only the age, personal, psychological, and pedagogical characteristics of students, but also the literary and methodological aspects of the issue. When reading fiction, students often find it difficult to interpret historical or cultural realities, which require mastering the techniques of searching for reference information and the ability to make historical and cultural comments with the use of the Internet. The methodological foundation of the study consists of the works on differentiation in the theory of education and upbringing, the peculiarities of differentiated learning at Literature and Literature-based reading lessons, the methods of making historical and cultural comments while studying literary works of art, the Internet hypertext for the actualization of the intertextual nature of fiction. Making historical and cultural comments, students develop their metasubject and subject skills. In primary school, pupils learn to use various search methods of looking up in the Internet dictionaries and encyclopedias, to advance the culture of using reference sources, to better understand the contents of the books read, to know the initial techniques of interpreting a literary text. In secondary school, students learn to identify the lack of information and to extract the latter from various sources, to attain semantic reading minding historical realities while analyzing the text, to use ICT, observing the rules of information security. In high school, they should be able to carry out independent research, to take into account the historical and cultural context while analyzing the text, to possess the skills of complex philological analysis. Differentiated tasks while making historical and cultural comments on literary works with the use of the Internet resources contribute to the successful implementation of the metasubject and subject results indicated in the Federal state standards (National Curricula) of primary, secondary, and high education.

The article is devoted to the study of the linguistic expression of the phenomenon of pain in the texts of F.M. Dostoevsky. The material of the analysis is the texts of works of fiction, journalism and letters of the Great Russian writer. The study of Dostoevskys texts is preceded by an analysis of entries in explanatory and specialized dictionaries and encyclopedias, including articles in the Dictionary of Dostoevskys Language. The relevance of the study is determined by the approaching bicentennial of F.M. Dostoevsky, in whose works the phenomenon of pain has become one of the important subjects of the image. The specificity of this work lies in the reliance on linguistic methods of studying the phenomenon of pain while maintaining the interdisciplinary focus of the research as a whole. Various associative connections of the word pain and its derivatives in the contexts of the writers works of different genres are being studied. At the initial stage, the selection of material is carried out by the method of continuous sampling using the DiaWin software system of the Department of Experimental Lexicography of the V.V. Vinogradov Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The material thus obtained, is subjected to a multilevel analysis, in course of which the specificity of the conceptualization of pain in language and culture is revealed and the features of the depiction and interpretation of the phenomenon of pain in the discourse of Dostoevsky and his characters are revealed. Conclusions are formulated about the stable associative connections of the lexeme pain, the specificity of the linguistic depiction of various states of pain in the writers texts is revealed, the original interpretations of the concept of pain in the discourses of heroes-ideologists are analyzed. As a result, the analyzed phenomenon appears in multidimensional illumination. The general structure of the frame is established. The relationship between external symptoms and internal sensations of physical and mental pain is revealed. It is postulated that the explication of the concept of pain by a native speaker is fraught with significant difficulties, since pain is introspective and subjectively experienced. This special state is experienced and lived on. The contextual combinations of meanings of the word pain in Dostoevskys texts are highlighted. The specificity of the figurative representation of pain situations in the writers works is revealed. The increments of meaning characteristic of Dostoevskys contexts are analyzed. As a result, pain is interpreted as a complex phenomenon of language and culture and an important concept in the discourse of F.M. Dostoevsky.

The article considers the strengthening of the Turkic factor in Egypt after the Mamluk Emirs, natives from the Khwarezm, Turkmen and Kipchak tribes, who came to power in the second half of the XIII century. The influence of the Turkic factor affected all aspects of life in Egypt. Under the leadership of the Turkic Emirs, the Egyptians defeated the crusaders who invaded Egypt in 1248. This defeat of the 7th crusade marked the beginning of the General collapse of the Crusades. Another crushing defeat of the Mamluks led by Sultan Kutuz caused the Mongols, stopping their victorious March through the Arab world. As a result of these brilliant victories, Egypt under the first Mamluk Sultans turned into a fairly strong state, which developed agriculture, irrigation, and foreign trade. The article also examines the factors contributing to the transformation of Egypt in the 13-14th centuries in the center of Muslim culture after the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate. Scientists from all over the Muslim world came to Egypt, educational institutions-madrassas were intensively built, and Muslim encyclopedias were created that absorbed the knowledge gained in various Sciences (geography, history, philology, astronomy, mathematics, etc.). Scholars from Khwarezm, the Golden Horde, Azerbaijan, and other Turkic-speaking regions along with Arab scholars taught hadith, logic, oratory, fiqh, and other Muslim Sciences in the famous madrassas of Egypt. In Mamluk Egypt, there was a great interest in the Turkic languages, especially the Oguz-Kipchak dialect. Arabic and Turkic philologists write special works on the vocabulary and grammar of the Turkic languages, and compile Arabic-Turkic dictionaries. In Egypt, a whole layer of artistic Turkic-language literature was created that has survived to the present day. The famous poet Saif Sarayi, who came from the lower reaches of the Syr Darya river in Mawaraunnahr was considered to be its founder. He wrote in Chigatai (old Uzbek) language and is recognized a poet who stands at the origins of Uzbek literature. In addition to his known the names of eight Turkish-speaking poets, most of whom have nisba “al-Khwarizmi”. Notable changes occurred in Arabic literature itself, especially after the decline of Palace Abbasid poetry. There is a convergence of literature with folk art, under the influence of which the poetic genres, such as “zazhal”, “mavval”, “muvashshah”, etc. emerge in the Egyptian poetry. In Mamluk Egypt, the genre of “adaba” is rapidly developing, aimed at bringing up and enlightening the good-natured Muslim in a popular scientific form. The works of “adaba” contained a large amount of poetic and folklore material from rivayats and hikayats, which makes it possible to have a more complete understanding of medieval Arabic literature in general. Unfortunately, the culture, including the fiction of the Mamluk period of Egypt, has been little studied, as well as the influence of the Turkic factor on the cultural and social life of the Egyptians. The Turkic influence is felt in the military and household vocabulary, the introduction of new rituals, court etiquette, changing the criteria for evaluating beauty, in food, clothing, etc. Natives of the Turkic regions, former slaves, historical figures such as the Sultan Shajarat ad-Durr, Mamluk sultans as Kutuz and Beybars became national heroes of the Egyptian people. Folk novels-Sirs were written about their deeds. And in modern times, their names are not forgotten. Prominent Egyptian writers have dedicated their historical novels to them, streets have been named after them, monuments have been erected to them, and series and TV shows dedicated to them are still shown on national television. This article for the first time examines some aspects of the influence of the Turkic factor on the cultural life of Mamluk Egypt and highlights some unknown pages of cultural relations between Egypt and Mawaraunnahr.

The article provides an in-depth analysis of the history of the origin of the term satire types of satire, definitions of the term satire in encyclopedias and scientific dictionaries. Representatives of satire in Russian, English and Uzbek literature are also mentioned. The article also includes opinions of famous scholars on satire, as well as their translation into Uzbek. The genre of satire has evolved since ancient times and covered almost all types of fiction. The satirist writers exposed the social events of the period in which they lived with humor and satire. They put the final conclusion on their works to readers themselves. Satirical works delight readers, they are immortal. In ancient Roman literature, Quintus Horace Flaccus, Detsim Junior Juvenile, Menippus Gadarsky elevated satire, while in English literature Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, in American literature Mark Twain left a deep imprint in the hearts of readers with their works. In Russian literature, the works of Nikolai Gogol, Mikhail Saltikov-Shchedrin, Mikhail Zoshchenko further flourished the genre of satire. In Uzbek literature, the first examples of satire appeared in folklore, and later flourished in written literature. In the genre of satire, our ancestors Alisher Navoi, Turdi, Makhmur, Gulkhani, Haziq, Muqimi, Zavkiy created. Hamza Hakimzoda Niyazi, Abdulla Kodiri, Ghazi Yunus, Sofizoda, Gafrur Gulam, Abdulla Kahhor, Said Ahmad, Nemat Aminov, Sadulla Siyoev also contributed the further development of satire. The purpose of the article is to analyze the status of satire as a genre, the system of artistic interpretation of satirical works, the specific artistic expression of the moral and philosophical worldview and the stages of formation and development of this genre, its dynamics and its new forms, comparative-historical, comparative-typological analysis. Theoretical methods were used: comparative analysis, synthesis, comparative induction, deduction, and comparative-historical analysis. In results the genesis of the satire genre, the historical, theoretical and poetic foundations of the satire genre and the stages of its formation were established. The most common types of satire were analyzed. Conclusion 1. The folklore roots of satire and the peculiarities of satirical images in oral folklore have been identified. 2. The problem of the genesis of the genre of satire was considered on the basis of world artistic-philosophical, socio-cultural thinking. 3. The problem of the genre of satire is covered in the comparative literary aspect. 4. The peculiarities of the classification and types of the genre of satire were determined.

The article represents an attempt to provide an interpretation of notion “sin” based on dramatic poems and dramatic sketches on early Christianity by Lesya Ukrainka. Choosing such an aspect is determined by lack of attention from literary critics who up to now either avoided it in spite of the evident need for interpretation or interpreted it from atheistic positions or treated this problem as one of the many factors not emphasizing it on purpose. The main attention in the present research is paid to the interpretation of a central notion “sin” based on the Bible, the Law of God, special reference books such as encyclopedias and dictionaries on the Bible. Since the analyzed works represent a monotheistic and polytheistic ideology we considered it necessary to compare the understating of a sin in Christianity and paganism, using for this material collected by F. Zelinsky, G. Lozko, S. Sviridova and others. The analysis of fiction books is done on content-creative and shape-creative levels taking into account problematic and thematic complexes, peculiarities of building an image system (opposition of religion, age, social status), plot and composition structures (type of conflict, peculiarities of its development, solution, role of remarks, structure-creative role of a sin etc.) poetics of character creation (gradation, contrast). The importance of sin in understanding the works by Lesya Ukrainka has been concluded: we are convinced that it is about the synthesis of philosophical and esthetic and philosophical and psychological levels of understanding human nature ambivalent by its essence, whose display depends of understanding the priorities in the dyad material / spiritual which means either seduction and a sin or conservation of internal beauty. The perspective of further research has been determined: general analysis of works by Ukrainian writer (lyrics, lyrico-epos, drama, prose in particular fragmentary); deeper, more persuasive understanding of a literary contribution to the literary context at the beginning of the XX century and in further periods; an ability to appeal to archetype origins, cultural codes.

The most important criterion for assessing the well-being of society, a factor in the national security of the country is the health of the younger generation. The state of health of adolescents is largely determined by the level of valeological education in the family. After all, the family develops the skills of a healthy lifestyle, universal spiritual values, and norms of social life. The main task today, on the one hand, is to study and identify the factors of individual and family health and social risk, and on the other hand - to optimize the early diagnosis and prevention of health disorders in children. The formation of skills for a healthy lifestyle of adolescents is crucial for the spiritual and physical development of the younger generation, its formation as a social personality. The paper examines the problems of forming a healthy lifestyle of Ukrainian adolescents aged 15-18, whose socialization takes place in the information society, which is implemented by processing 1,075 sets of questionnaires ("Questionnaire of adolescents 15-18 years" and "Questionnaire of mothers of adolescents 15-18 years"), in the analysis of which only informative answers were taken into account. Information base - the international program ELSPAC - (European Longitudinal Study of Parenthood and Childhood - European long-term monitoring of parenthood and childhood), its Ukrainian fragment "Family and Children of Ukraine". It was found that the main source of information for adolescents is a computer with the Internet and television (71.3 and 66.4% of respondents, respectively). The results of the survey of adolescents on the place of work at the computer showed that for the most part - 79.2% of respondents work at home, a third at school - 37.2% and 17.2% of adolescents - in the computer club (17.2%). The maximum number of answers confirms that both on weekdays and weekends the duration of work on the computer is from 1 to 6 hours with a maximum value of 2 hours for working days (23.6%) and 4 hours - on weekends and holidays (15.7%)). Information on the negative impact on the human body of long-term computer use is known to the vast majority of respondents - 95.8% of adolescents. The majority of respondents for offline communication prefer peers, some loyal friends (63.4 and 60.7%, respectively), only 45.2 and 40.4% of adolescents like to communicate with their parents and beloved person, respectively. An analysis of literary preferences found that one in four to five teenagers enjoyed reading school literature, comics, humor and science fiction, short stories and novels, encyclopedias and dictionaries. The results of the survey of mothers of adolescents on the assessment of the daily routine and daily activity of their children prove insufficient physical activity; only 35.7% of adolescents go in for sports in their free time. Home help is most often provided by a teenager making his bed (70.8% of cases), cleaning his room and going to the store (55.6 and 51.1%, respectively). Survey of mothers on the living conditions of their children's sleep showed that the vast majority of them sleep in a separate room (70.0% of adolescents), in a room with other children - 15.3% of respondents, with parents - 9.0% of children in the room with other adults - 2.9% of adolescents. But 3.3% of children do not have a single bed. Summing up the results of the responses of Ukrainian adolescents and their mothers, it is possible to say that in our society, due attention is not paid to the employment of adolescents. Thus, improving the quality of life of adolescents can be achieved by choosing the optimal preventive effect on them, taking into account the individual characteristics of psychological and physical status.

The move from analog distribution to online digital delivery is common in the contemporary mediascape. Music is in the midst of an ipod driven paradigm shift (Levy), television and movie delivery is being reconfigured (Johnson), and newspaper and magazines are confronting the reality of the world wide web and what it means for business models and ideas of journalism (Beecher). In the midst of this change, the book publishing industry remains defiant. While embracing digital production technologies, the vast majority of book content is still delivered in material form, printed and shipped the old-fashioned way—despite the efforts of many technology companies over the last decade. Even the latest efforts from corporate giants such as Sony and Amazon (who appear to have solved many of the technical hurdles of electronic reading devices) have had little visible impact. The idea of electronic books, or e-books, remains the domain of geeky early adopters (“Have”). The reasons for this are manifold, but, arguably, a broader uptake of e-books has not occurred because cultural change is much more difficult than technological change and book readers have yet to be persuaded to change their cultural habits. Electronic reading devices have been around for as long as there have been computers with screens, but serious attempts to replicate the portability, readability, and convenience of a printed book have only been with us for a decade or so. The late 1990s saw the release of a number of e-book devices. In quick succession, the likes of the Rocket e-Book, the SoftBook and the Franklin eBookman all failed to catch on. Despite this lack of market penetration, software companies began to explore the possibilities—Microsoft’s Reader software competed with a similar product from Adobe, some publishers became content providers, and a niche market of consumers began reading e-books on personal digital assistants (PDAs). That niche was sufficient for e-reading communities and shopfronts to appear, with a reasonable range of titles becoming available for purchase to feed demand that was very much driven by early adopters. But the e-book market was and remains small. For most people, books are still regarded as printed paper objects, purchased from a bookstore, borrowed from a library, or bought online from companies like Amazon.com. More recently, the introduction of e-ink technologies (EPDs) (DeJean), which allow for screens with far more book-like resolution and contrast, has provided the impetus for a new generation of e-book devices. In combination with an expanded range of titles (and deals with major publishing houses to include current best-sellers), there has been renewed interest in the idea of e-books. Those who have used the current generation of e-ink devices are generally positive about the experience. Except for some sluggishness in “turning” pages, the screens appear crisp, clear and are not as tiring to read as older displays. There are a number of devices that have embraced the new screen technologies (mobileread) but most attention has been paid to three devices in particular—mainly because their manufacturers have tried to create an ecosystem that provides content for their reading devices in much the same way that Apple’s itunes store provides content for ipods. The Sony Portable Reader (Sonystyle) was the first electronic ink device to be produced by a mainstream consumers electronics company. Sony ties the Reader to its Connect store, which allows the purchase of book titles via a computer; titles are then downloaded to the Reader in the same way that an mp3 player is loaded with music. Sony’s most prominent competition in the marketplace is Amazon’s Kindle, which does not require users to have a computer. Instead, its key feature is a constant wireless connection to Amazon’s growing library of Kindle titles. This works in conjunction with US cellphone provider Sprint to allow the purchase of books via wireless downloads wherever the Sprint network exists. The system, which Amazon calls “whispernet,” is invisible to readers and the cost is incorporated into the price of books, so Kindle users never see a bill from Sprint (“Frequently”). Both the Sony Reader and the Amazon Kindle are available only in limited markets; Kindle’s reliance on a cellphone network means that its adoption internationally is dependent on Amazon establishing a relationship with a cellphone provider in each country of release. And because both devices are linked to e-bookstores, territorial rights issues with book publishers (who trade publishing rights for particular global territories in a colonial-era mode of operation that seems to ignore the reality of global information mobility (Thompson 74–77)) contribute to the restricted availability of both the Sony and Amazon products. The other mainstream device is the iRex Iliad, which is not constrained to a particular online bookstore and thus is available internationally. Its bookstore ecosystems are local relationships—with Dymocks in Australia, Borders in the UK, and other booksellers across Europe (iRex). All three devices use EPDs and share similar specifications for the actual reading of e-books. Some might argue that the lack of a search function in the Sony and the ability to write on pages in the Iliad are quite substantive differences, but overall the devices are distinguished by their availability and the accessibility of book titles. Those who have used the devices extensively are generally positive about the experience. Amazon’s Customer Reviews are full of positive comments, and the sense from many commentators is that the systems are a viable replacement for old-fashioned printed books (Marr). Despite the good reviews—which suggest that the technology is actually now good enough to compete with printed books—the e-book devices have failed to catch on. Amazon has been hesitant to state actual sales figures, leaving it to so-called analysts to guess with the most optimistic suggesting that only 30 to 50,000 have sold since launch in late 2007 (Sridharan). By comparison, a mid-list book title (in the US) would expect to sell a similar number of copies. The sales data for the Sony Portable Reader (which has been on the market for nearly two years) and the iRex iliad are also elusive (Slocum), suggesting that they have not meaningfully changed the landscape. Tellingly, despite the new devices, the e-book industry is still tiny. Although it is growing, the latest American data show that the e-book market has wholesale revenues of around $10 million per quarter (or around $40 million per year), which is dwarfed by the $35 billion in revenues regularly earned annually in the US printed book industry ("Book"). It’s clear that despite the technological advances, e-books have yet to cross the chasm from early adopter to mainstream usage (see IPDF). The reason for this is complex; there are issues of marketing and distribution that need to be considered, as well as continuing arguments about screen technologies, appropriate publishing models, and digital rights management. It is beyond the scope of this article to do justice to those issues. Suffice to say, the book industry is affected by the same debates over content that plague other media industries (Vershbow). But, arguably, the key reason for the minimal market impact is straightforward—technological change is relatively easy, but cultural change is much more difficult. The current generation of e-book devices might be technically very close to being a viable replacement for print on paper (and the next generation of devices will no doubt be even better), but there are bigger cultural hurdles to be overcome. For most people, the social practice of reading books (du Gay et al 10) is inextricably tied with printed objects and a print culture that is not yet commonly associated with “technology” (perhaps because books, as machines for reading (Young 160), have become an invisible technology (Norman 246)). E. Annie Proulx’s dismissive suggestion that “nobody is going to sit down and read a novel on a twitchy little screen. Ever” (1994) is commonly echoed when book buyers consider the digital alternative. Those thoughts only scratch the surface of a deeply embedded cultural practice. The centuries since Gutenberg’s printing press and the vast social and cultural changes that followed positioned print culture as the dominant cultural mode until relatively recently (Eisenstein; Ong). The emerging electronic media forms of the twentieth century displaced that dominance with many arguing that the print age was moved aside by first radio and television and now computers and the Internet (McLuhan; Postman). Indeed, there is a subtext in that line of thought, one that situates electronic media forms (particularly screen-based ones) as the antithesis of print and book culture. Current e-book reading devices attempt to minimise the need for cultural change by trying to replicate a print culture within an e-print culture. For the most part, they are designed to appeal to book readers as a replacement for printed books. But it will take more than a perfect electronic facsimile of print on paper to persuade readers to disengage with a print culture that incorporates bookshops, bookclubs, writing in the margins, touching and smelling the pages and covers, admiring the typesetting, showing off their bookshelves, and visibly identifying with their collections. The frequently made technical arguments (about flashing screens and reading in the bath (Randolph)) do not address the broader apprehension about a cultural experience that many readers do not wish to leave behind. It is in that context that booklovers appear particularly resistant to any shift from print to a screen-based format. One only has to engage in a discussion about e-books (or lurk on an online forum where one is happening) to appreciate how deeply embedded print culture is (Hepworth)—book readers have a historical attachment to the printed object and it is this embedded cultural resistance that is the biggest barrier for e-books to overcome. Although e-book devices in no way resemble television, print culture is still deeply suspicious of any screen-based media and arguments are often made that the book as a physical object is critical because “different types of media function differently, and even if the content is similar the form matters quite a lot” (Weber). Of course, many in the newspaper industry would argue that long-standing cultural habits can change very rapidly and the migration of eyeballs from newsprint to the Internet is a cautionary tale (see Auckland). That specific format shift saw cultural change driven by increased convenience and a perception of decreased cost. For those already connected to the Internet, reading newspapers online represented zero marginal cost, and the range of online offerings dwarfed that of the local newsagency. The advantage of immediacy and multimedia elements, and the possibility of immediate feedback, appeared sufficient to drive many away from print towards online newspapers.For a similar shift in the e-book realm, there must be similar incentives for readers. At the moment, the only advantages on offer are weightlessness (which only appeals to frequent travellers) and convenience via constant access to a heavenly library of titles (Young 150). Amazon’s Kindle bookshop can be accessed 24/7 from anywhere there is a Sprint network coverage (Nelson). However, even this advantage is not so clear-cut—there is a meagre range of available electronic titles compared to printed offerings. For example, Amazon claims 130,000 titles are currently available for Kindle and Sony has 50,000 for its Reader, figures that are dwarfed by Amazon’s own printed book range. Importantly, there is little apparent cost advantage to e-books. The price of electronic reading devices is significant, amounting to a few hundred dollars to which must be added the cost of e-books. The actual cost of those titles is also not as attractive as it might be. In an age where much digital content often appears to be free, consumers demand a significant price advantage for purchasing online. Although some e-book titles are priced more affordably than their printed counterparts, the cost of many seems strangely high given the lack of a physical object to print and ship. For example, Amazon Kindle titles might be cheaper than the print version, but the actual difference (after discounting) is not an order of magnitude, but of degree. For example, Randy Pausch’s bestselling The Last Lecture is available for $12.07 as a paperback or $9.99 as a Kindle edition (“Last”). For casual readers, the numbers make no sense—when the price of the reading device is included, the actual cost is prohibitive for those who only buy a few titles a year. At the moment, e-books only make sense for heavy readers for whom the additional cost of the reading device will be amortised over a large number of books in a reasonably short time. (A recent article in the Wall Street Journal suggested that the break-even point for the Kindle was the purchase of 61 books (Arends).) Unfortunately for the e-book industry, not is only is that particular market relatively small, it is the one least likely to shift from the embedded habits of print culture. Arguably, should e-books eventually offer a significant cost benefit for consumers, uptake would be more dramatic. However, in his study of cellphone cultures, Gerard Goggin argues against purely fiscal motivations, suggesting that cultural change is driven by other factors—in his example, new ways of communicating, connecting, and engaging (205–211). The few market segments where electronic books have succeeded are informative. For example, the market for printed encyclopedias has essentially disappeared. Most have reinvented themselves as CD-ROMs or DVD-ROMs and are sold for a fraction of the price. Although cost is undoubtedly a factor in their market success, added features such as multimedia, searchability, and immediacy via associated websites are compelling reasons driving the purchase of electronic encyclopedias over the printed versions. The contrast with the aforementioned e-book devices is apparent with encyclopedias moving away from their historical role in print culture. Electronic encyclopedias don’t try to replicate the older print forms. Rather they represent a dramatic shift of book content into an interactive audio-visual domain. They have experimented with new formats and reconfigured content for the new media forms—the publishers in question simply left print culture behind and embraced a newly emerging computer or multimedia culture. This step into another realm of social practices also happened in the academic realm, which is now deeply embedded in computer-based delivery of research and pedagogy. Not only are scholarly journals moving online (Thompson 320–325), but so too are scholarly books. For example, at the Macquarie University Library, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of electronic books in the collection. The library purchased 895 e-books in 2005 and 68,000 in 2007. During the same period, the number of printed books purchased remained relatively stable with about 16,000 bought annually (Macquarie University Library). The reasons for the dramatic increase in e-book purchases are manifold and not primarily driven by cost considerations. Not only does the library have limited space for physical storage, but Macquarie (like most other Universities) emphasises its e-learning environment. In that context, a single e-book allows multiple, geographically dispersed, simultaneous access, which better suits the flexibility demanded of the current generation of students. Significantly, these e-books require no electronic reading device beyond a standard computer with an internet connection. Users simply search for their required reading online and read it via their web browser—the library is operating in a pedagogical culture that assumes that staff and students have ready access to the necessary resources and are happy to read large amounts of text on a screen. Again, gestures towards print culture are minimal, and the e-books in question exist in a completely different distributed electronic environment. Another interesting example is that of mobile phone novels, or “keitai” fiction, popular in Japan. These novels typically consist of a few hundred pages, each of which contains about 500 Japanese characters. They are downloaded to (and read on) cellphones for about ten dollars apiece and can sell in the millions of copies (Katayama). There are many reasons why the keitai novel has achieved such popularity compared to the e-book approaches pursued in the West. The relatively low cost of wireless data in Japan, and the ubiquity of the cellphone are probably factors. But the presence of keitai culture—a set of cultural practices surrounding the mobile phone—suggests that the mobile novel springs not from a print culture, but from somewhere else. Indeed, keitai novels are written (often on the phones themselves) in a manner that lends itself to the constraints of highly portable devices with small screens, and provides new modes of engagement and communication. Their editors attribute the success of keitai novels to how well they fit into the lifestyle of their target demographic, and how they act as community nodes around which readers and writers interact (Hani). Although some will instinctively suggest that long-form narratives are doomed with such an approach, it is worthwhile remembering that, a decade ago, few considered reading long articles using a web browser and the appropriate response to computer-based media was to rewrite material to suit the screen (Nielsen). However, without really noticing the change, the Web became mainstream and users began reading everything on their computers, including much longer pieces of text. Apart from the examples cited, the wider book trade has largely approached e-books by trying to replicate print culture, albeit with an electronic reading device. Until there is a significant cost and convenience benefit for readers, this approach is unlikely to be widely successful. As indicated above, those segments of the market where e-books have succeeded are those whose social practices are driven by different cultural motivations. It may well be that the full-frontal approach attempted to date is doomed to failure, and e-books would achieve more widespread adoption if the book trade took a different approach. The Amazon Kindle has not yet persuaded bookloving readers to abandon print for screen in sufficient numbers to mark a seachange. Indeed, it is unlikely that any device positioned specifically as a book replacement will succeed. Instead of seeking to make an e-book culture a replacement for print culture, effectively placing the reading of books in a silo separated from other day-to-day activities, it might be better to situate e-books within a mobility culture, as part of the burgeoning range of social activities revolving around a connected, convergent mobile device. Reading should be understood as an activity that doesn’t begin with a particular device, but is done with whatever device is at hand. In much the same way that other media producers make content available for a number of platforms, book publishers should explore the potential of the new mobile devices. Over 45 million smartphones were sold globally in the first three months of 2008 (“Gartner”)—somewhat more than the estimated shipments of e-book reading devices. As well as allowing a range of communications possibilities, these convergent devices are emerging as key elements in the new digital mediascape—one that allows users access to a broad range of media products via a single pocket-sized device. Each of those smartphones makes a perfectly adequate e-book reading device, and it might be useful to pursue a strategy that embeds book reading as one of the key possibilities of this growing mobility culture. The casual gaming market serves as an interesting example. While hardcore gamers cling to their games PCs and consoles, a burgeoning alternative games market has emerged, with a different demographic purchasing less technically challenging games for more informal gaming encounters. This market has slowly shifted to convergent mobile devices, exemplified by Sega’s success in selling 300,000 copies of Super Monkey Ball within 20 days of its release for Apple’s iphone (“Super”). Casual gamers do not necessarily go on to become hardcore games, but they are gamers nonetheless—and today’s casual games (like the aforementioned Super Monkey Ball) are yesterday’s hardcore games of choice. It might be the same for reading. The availability of e-books on mobile platforms may not result in more people embracing longer-form literature. But it will increase the number of people actually reading, and, just as casual gaming has attracted a female demographic (Wallace 8), the instant availability of appropriate reading material might sway some of those men who appear to be reluctant readers (McEwan). Rather than focus on printed books, and book-like reading devices, the industry should re-position e-books as an easily accessible content choice in a digitally converged media environment. This is more a cultural shift than a technological one—for publishers and readers alike. Situating e-books in such a way may alienate a segment of the bookloving community, but such readers are unlikely to respond to anything other than print on paper. Indeed, it may encourage a whole new demographic—unafraid of the flickering screen—to engage with the manifold attractions of “books.” References Arends, Brett. “Can Amazon’s Kindle Save You Money?” The Wall St Journal 24 June 2008. 25 June 2008 ‹http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121431458215899767.html? mod=rss_whats_news_technology>. Auckland, Steve. “The Future of Newspapers.” The Independent 13 Nov. 2008. 24 June 2008 ‹http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article1963543.ece>. Beecher, Eric. “War of Words.” The Monthly, June 2007: 22–26. 25 June 2008 . “Book Industry Trends 2006 Shows Publishers’ Net Revenues at $34.59 Billion for 2005.” Book Industry Study Group. 22 May 2006 ‹http://www.bisg.org/news/press.php?pressid=35>. DeJean, David, “The Future of e-paper: The Kindle is Only the Beginning.” Computerworld 6 June 2008. 12 June 2008 ‹http://www.computerworld.com/action/article .do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9091118>. du Gay, Paul, Stuart Hall, Linda Janes, Hugh Mackay, and Keith Negus. Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1997. Eisenstein, Elizabeth. The Printing Press as an Agent of Change. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1997. “Frequently Asked Questions about Amazon Kindle.” Amazon.com. 12 June 2008 ‹http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200127480&#whispernet>. “Gartner Says Worldwide Smartphone Sales Grew 29 Percent in First Quarter 2008.” Gartner. 6 June 2008. 20 June 2008 ‹http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=688116>. Goggin, Gerard. Cell Phone Cultures. London: Routledge, 2006. Hani, Yoko. “Cellphone Bards Make Bestseller Lists.” Japan Times Online Sep. 2007. 20 June 2008 ‹http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20070923x4.html>. “Have you Changed your mind on Ebook Readers?” Slashdot. 25 June 2008 ‹http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/08/2317250>. Hepworth, David. “The Future of Reading or the Sinclair C5.” The Word 17 June 2008. 20 June 2008 ‹http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/future-reading-or-sinclair-c5>. IPDF (International Digital Publishing Forum) Industry Statistics. 24 June 2008 ‹http://www.openebook.org/doc_library/industrystats.htm>. iRex Technologies Press. 12 June 2008 ‹http://www.irextechnologies.com/about/press>. Johnson, Bobbie. “Vince Cerf, AKA the Godfather of the Net, Predicts the End of TV as We Know It.” The Guardian 27 Aug. 2008. 24 June 2008 ‹http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/aug/27/news.google>. Katayama, Lisa. “Big Books Hit Japan’s Tiny Phones.” Wired Jan. 2007. 24 June 2008 ‹http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2007/01/72329>. “The Last Lecture.” Amazon.com. 24 June 2008 ‹http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401323251/ref=amb_link_3359852_2? pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=right-1&pf_rd_r=07NDSWAK6D4HT181CNXD &pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=385880801&pf_rd_i=549028>.Levy, Steven. The Perfect Thing. London:Ebury Press, 2006. Macquarie University Library Annual Report 2007. 24 June 2008 ‹http://senate.mq.edu.au/ltagenda/0308/library_report%202007.doc>. Marr, Andrew. “Curling Up with a Good EBook.” The Guardian 11 May 2007. 23 May 2007 ‹http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2077278,00.html>. McEwan, Ian. “Hello, Would you Like a Free Book?” The Guardian 20 Sep. 2005. 28 June 2008 ‹http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2005/sep/20/fiction.features11>. McLuhan, Marshall. The Gutenberg Galaxy. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1962. Mobileread. E-book Reader Matrix, Mobileread Wiki. 30 May 2008 ‹http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_Reader_Matrix>. Nelson, Sara. “Warming to Kindle.” Publishers Weekly 10 Dec. 2007. 31 Jan. 2008 ‹http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6510861.htm.html>. Nielsen, Jakob. “Concise, Scannable and Objective, How to Write for the Web.” 1997. ‹20 June 2008 ‹http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/writing.html>. Norman, Don. The Invisible Computer: Why Good Products Can Fail. Cambridge, MA: MIT P, 1998. Ong, Walter. Orality & Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. New York: Methuen, 1988. Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death. New York: Penguin, 1986. Proulx, E. Annie. “Books on Top.” The New York Times 26 May 1994. 28 June 2008 ‹http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/05/23/specials/proulx-top.html>. Randolph, Eleanor. “Reading into the Future.” The New York Times 18 June 2008. 19 June 2008 ‹http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/opinion/18wed3.html?>. Slocum, Mac. “The Pitfalls of Publishing’s E-Reader Guessing Game.” O’Reilly TOC. June 2006. 24 June 2008 ‹http://toc.oreilly.com/2008/06/the-pitfalls-of-publishings-er.html>. Sridharan, Vasanth. “Goldman: Amazon Sold up to 50,000 Kindles in Q1.” Silicon Alley Insider 19 May 2008. 25 June 2008 ‹http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/5/how_many_kindles_sold_last_quarter_>. “Super Monkey Ball iPhone's Super Sales.” Edge OnLine. 24 Aug. 2008 ‹http://www.edge-online.com/news/super-monkey-ball-iphones-super-sales>. Thompson, John B. Books in the Digital Age. London: Polity, 2005. Vershbow, Ben. “Self Destructing Books.” if:book. May 2005. 4 Oct. 2006 ‹http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/archives/2005/05/selfdestructing_books.html>. Wallace, Margaret, and Brian Robbins. 2006 Casual Games White Paper. IDGA. 24 Aug. 2008 ‹http://www.igda.org/casual/IGDA_CasualGames_Whitepaper_2006.pdf>. Weber, Jonathan. “Why Books Resist the Rise of Novel Technologies.” The Times Online 23 May 2006. 25 June 2008 ‹http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article724510.ece> Young, Sherman. The Book is Dead, Long Live the Book. Sydney: UNSW P, 2007.

The rare book section appeared in the library named after M.V. Lomonosov 8 years ago. This fund is small - only a couple of hundred books. However, its value is measured not by size, but by uniqueness. The basis of the fund is made up of editions of the XIX–XX centuries. In terms of its content, the fund is universal. Most of it is fiction. In addition, there is popular science literature of past centuries, dictionaries, encyclopedias, newspapers. The collection of rare books includes: the collection “Poems and Prose Articles” by Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov, published in 1886 and donated in 1984 by the poet Ion Odobescu; A. Glazunov, 1895 edition; I. Turgenev –1898; M. Gorky – 1901; Emilian Bukov – 1938; V. Zhukovsky – 1902; N. Leskov – 1903; P. Tchaikovsky – 1908; I. Brahms – 1873; M. Yu. Lermonotov – 1940; H. Wells – 1909 “Otechestvennye zapiski” – 1840; “Bulletin of Europe” – 1879; “Course of Geography of NonEuropean Countries” – 1905; “Niva” – 1899; K. Marx’s “Capital” – published in 1950 and much more. Our books are not museum pieces. They form part of the actively used collection of the library. Any interested reader can get acquainted with the collection of rare books on the website of the library M. V. Lomonosov in the “Rare Books” section.