another is he is a longtime friend of the newberry. i want to add that if you haven't yet read his 1977 book one of you urge you do so. chicago magazine has recently reminded us, fred schapiro at the yale law steel police richard poser is the most cited jurist of the 20th century and i presume now 21st century. there is good reason to come to this conclusion. first he has been a member of the second circuit of the united states court of go since 1981 and has written a vast body of legal opinions. second, during that time he's published many, many books and articles and in recent years has become a much discussed blogger. third, taken as a group has publications explore what i think it's a remarkable range of intellectual interest. doing so with great subtlety. of course he is held to educate and train a large number of students at the university of chicago law school, where he has remained on the faculty since becoming a judge. among what i think are his most interesting books is his study of the decline of public intellectuals. and i m

obviously, the issues involved are important to us here at the newberry, and we think they could be important to everyone. let me provide a little context for the discussion that is going to ensue by quoting two recent seemingly contrasting comments by people who have connections with the newberry. one comes from robert h. jackson, a trustee of ours and a noted cleveland collector. who introduced with these words an important conference on books in hard times at this country's most important bibliophilic society, the goldier club of new york. today books face the four horsemen of the print media apocalypse; computer, video, the internet and the iphone. history is changing books, and it's something for us to worry about, unquote. then there is what princeton's anthony graphton, recipient of the newberry award wrote in his wonderful little book, "kodak's in crisis." sit in your local coffee shop, and your laptop can tell you a lot. but if you want deeper, more local knowledge, you will still have to take the narrower path through the library doors and into the land of physical reading material.