As the percentage of Jews who are Orthodox increases, which has been the case for a generation, the impact on Jewish publishing and book purchasing will become increasingly apparent. Many Orthodox publishers are not part of the "mainstream" of the book distribution network but have their own network, meaning that purchases from the Orhtodox/Hareidi stream will not be reflected in statistical measures such as the one that led to the conclusion that Jews are buying fewer books. I would not be surprised if Jews are buying fewer secular books compared to the numbers 50 years ago (when there were more Jews in the United States, and very few were Orthodox, at least as the term is now understood).
Aaron Wolfe Kuperman (LC, Social Sciences Cataloging Division) This note is NOT an official communication from the Library of Congress. Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
