Change, technology and the future with three book industry stalwarts

The Read, Booksellers NZ by Marcus Greville There is hardly a better battleground for analogue vs. digital than bookselling: the changes have been continuous and paradigm-changing in terms of the way that bookshops operate. Not too long ago I was telling another bookseller about the monthly CD-ROMs that updated our bibliographic database; in response I got an amused smile and the comment, ‘Nice, granpaw’. I recall I gave a similar response to tales of microfiche in the 90’s.   As technology and change have swept through all forms of business, the selling of bound paper and ink has had to keep pace with innovation while trying to adhere to the core joys of books and bookselling. Has anything been lost during that time? How much change has there been in our industry and is bookselling as satisfying as it always has been? The Read talks to industry stalwarts Carole Beu from The Women's Bookshop (28 years in bookselling), Tilly Lloyd from Unity Books Wellington (32 years in bookselling), and David Hedley from Hedley's Bookshop in Masterton (40 years in bookselling). We discussed fun, change, technology and the future.