Theos-Talk Archives (March 2011 Message tt00019)

Digital files of publications

We have discussed the need to make all theosophical publications - new - old
- out of print - available as digital files in pdf format.

There are several advantages; starting with the low cost and ease of
distribution world wide. Since the target audience for theosophical
publications is very minuscule the scale of production normally associated
with books and publications having millions of copies in circulation is not
applicable to theosophical publications; nor business success is the prime
objective of the publications either.

For the student and researcher, there are two unique advantages which can
never be achieved by any other traditional approach. Almost all the
publications available can be stored in a single thumb drive and digital
files are all searchable by any word or combination of words.

So one can access almost all the publications available in a digital form as
well as even a traveling student or researcher can search massive amount of
material to aid in their research. This was not something that can never be
done in pre digital age.

This brings us to the availability of publications in digital format. Most
of the theosophical classics are, thank God, out of copyright and most of
them are available as digital files. This brings us to the publications
which are still under copyright. Today, due to the convenience of storage
and searchability, many of them are available in digital format in the
private hands. When one buys a book, and finds that a digital file
facilitates transportability and searchability, one can feed the book into a
high speed scanner and in a short time you have a digital file for your use.
So in practice, many of the important current publications are more likely
available as pdf files in private hands and I suppose can be loaned by the
owner of the book.

There are various websites which list all publications available online.
Would it not be nice if we can come up with a list of books which are not
available yet as pdf files so that if anyone has a copy in their private
collection, they may be able to privately loan it to a fellow student for a
short time use. It would be a good idea to develop such a list so that an
earnest student anywhere in the world will be able to access it
instantaneously.

The prime motivation of every theosophist should be to make it easy for
anyone in the world to access theosophical information efficiently and
effectively and with a minimal cost.

MKR


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]