We can find books on any specialized subject, supplied by any number of niche publishers proliferating across the industry, and there are endless sources of information about books to help us make our selection. The content of books comes to us fresher, with time from author to market compressed in some cases to a matter of days. Meanwhile, many books stay in print longer, and out-of-print books are being re-released.

And books are spawning other ways to get information. They offer links to supplemental web sites where we can find out more and keep up to date. They come with CD-ROMs so we can try out what we've learned or sample a related product. College professors are designing custom reading collections that combine chapters from multiple publishers with magazine articles, newspaper clippings, and broadcast transcripts. Intellectual property in the public domain is being mined for content and repackaged for modern readers of print and digital media.