This post has some of the same ideas as in previous ones. But there could be a clearcut event sometime soon or by taking a few months as one section of time.

Another way to look at it is through decisions that turn out to be sound even though they were queried at the time. The London College of Printing has been in some confusion I think since the name was changed to Communication. I rarely meet anyone working there who is delighted with the changes. But I notice there is strong mention of games in the promotion for the 2012 Futures conference. This is easier as part of Communication. Of course the London School of Economics changed the scope without changing the name. But the Futures conference this year may indicate a scope for communication that has a more confident direction.

In Exeter the rebuilding of the university central forum managed to demolish the bookshop without leaving enough space for a new one. There is a temp Blackwells for about six weeks with enough stock for the courses set texts. Then there will be a desk in the supermarket to support the website. Meanwhile in Exeter Waterstones will soon stock Kindle and a new John Lewis will offer the new Nook from Barnes and Noble. I don't yet understand how Waterstones will promote their own website rather than Amazon. But the nature of sites selling books is changing. WH Smith displays Kobo and has another Costa.

It may turn out over the book selling time till the new year that there has been a shift to digital. But if a university has no need of a bookshop, what is the case for a library?

So far I have been interested in digital developments while thinking that print and hard copy books can continue as well. But compact discs seem to be vanishing now from retail shops. The student newspaper in Exeter has dropped any protest at the lack of a bookshop longterm. It will be interesting to see if there is some reporting in week seven.