Britannica: Define Outdated - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com I'll Miss the Miscellany A.J. Jacobs, author, "The Know-It-All" I spent many hundreds of hours with those gold-embossed Britannica volumes on my lap, with pages you could actually turn, not click or swipe. The Set Is a Relic. Now We Google. John McWhorter, author, "What Language Is" When I have needed information lately, whether about Franco-Provençal or the honey badger, an encyclopedia would have disappointed. If You Liked Britannica, You'll Love Wikipedia Phoebe Ayers, librarian and Wikimedia trustee The possibility of intimately knowing a vast world: that is why we read encyclopedias, and why we write them, too. Crowdsourcing Is Great, but So Are Experts Alexander Chee, novelist I believe all information should be as democratically available as possible, but I'm averse to it being democratically produced. Students Should Not Abandon Print Stephanie Rosalia, school librarian We work to create inquiry-driven critical thinking in our students while we systematically remove the tools necessary to stimulate such thought.