World Book Week arrives next week, a massive promotional effort by the books industry. Last year, bookshop traffic increased by 60 per cent in the weeks following the event. Yet as citizens of the 21st century, have we really still got space for the traditional book in our busy, technologically driven lives? Are we only buying them to languish like a fashion statement on our shelves? Will we be downloading books directly into our brains by the next millennium, or will we simply swallow pills marked Tolstoy? A sampling of informed opinion affirms that reading a book on a mobile will be a fad, and as for, what: `no books at all'! - a prospect not to be entertained.
Breffni Holahan (8), from Cabinteely, Co Dublin I would prefer reading a normal book as it's more real and it's easier to read on paper.
Oisin Hurst, senior web-designer, Sharc Design There will be different ways of reading. People will read from screens of an incredibly high resolution that has been created so they don't look like screens. That technology will eventually replace the book. In the future, numerous books will fit on one small cartridge, the size of a battery, which will be inserted into an electronic device the size of a mobile phone.
Pat Kenny, broadcaster A book is such a convenient thing and it can be a precious thing - in the way it is produced and in terms of illustration and quality. We are at the infatuation stage of Internet use. The idea of carrying around a CD book, like a mobile, is not feasible. I have no doubt a CDROM would not be read as many times as any library book.
Paul Sheehan, director of Library Services, DCU Some of the functions and information in books will be replaced because they can be more efficiently delivered in the electronic medium. Encyclopedias were conceived as printed objects, but now some are transmitted electronically. Encarta can give you an image of the moon landing and can give you video clips. You can parcel information from different media that you can't do in a traditional book.
Susan Naughton, proprietor of Naughton's second-hand and antiquarian booksellers In terms of traditional books there is always going to be a place for the limited editions. With the Internet, access to information is much greater. You could go to the library, and either the book is gone or the pages have been ripped out, so accessing the information online can be advantageous. But the demand will always be there for books.
Desmond Swan, Professor Emeritus, UCD (former Head of the Dept of Education) New technologies are competing for children's reading-time. But if they see a programme on TV or a video, it may encourage them to read. The weaker readers probably read less as a result of all these new attractions, and the average readers are probably influenced by TV and video as to what to read in book form.
Alison Duffy, marketing and PR manager for Sony Computer Entertainment I would doubt whether you would see kids in the future sitting down to read their books via a PlayStation. However, if the first introduction to a book was via a PlayStation title, it would encourage them to read it. I hope there will never be a situation where books would be gone. They are too important.
Seamus Cashman, publisher, Wolfhound Press There is no form of e-book that is reasonably cheap for the consumer. Maybe in five years' time there will be an alternative option for the book, but it will be there beside it rather than instead of it. Publishers should see this as an opportunity to expand into a different market rather than as a threat. CDbooks are a good idea.
Catherine Dunne, author of The Walled Garden Reading from the screen will never become a pleasure in the same way that taking the book out of the bag is. I would have no fears about the e-book.
Rosemary Dawson, Director and Publicist of World Book Week The book is the one form that really stimulates people. It hasn't changed for centuries and is the easiest form of entertainment. We need to remove books from their high pedestals as they can seem intimidating. Books come from people. They are ordinary creatures just like ourselves.
An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern I'm always conscious of the immense value reading can have on our development. I am particularly pleased with the number of innovative ideas that have been implemented by the Department of Education and Science in conjunction with the National Adult Literacy Agency. I would like to encourage everyone of all ages to get reading now and see the value of books in life-long learning. Brendan Kennelly, poet When you consider me You involve me in your secret. I extend and deepen it, I enlarge you as I lose myself, word by word. I am part of a story you invent Like a rumour you once heard And decided to make your own. When you believe you possess me You are most alone. (from Book, the World Book Week poem, first published in A Time for Voices: Selected Poems 1960 - 1990, Bloodaxe, 1990)
World Book Week takes place from Monday to March 5th. Dublin highlights include a gathering of Welsh and Irish authors and schoolchildren at Dublinia, Christ Church, on Monday at 1 p.m., followed by readings at 2 p.m.; children's authors Don Conroy and Gordon Snell at the Dublin Writers' Museum (Thursday, 10.30 a.m.); and an illustrated talk by Peter Pearson on Dublin at Eason/Hanna's on Nassau Street (Thursday, 6.30 p.m.). Irish booksellers are offering £1 book vouchers in The Irish Times, from Monday to March 10th.