Since the boom of the Internet began, scholars have feared its negative effect on the literary world. Perhaps they had good reason to be concerned. According to multiple announcements from publishers, encyclopedias have now joined books, newspapers, and magazines in decreased print sales. A February 2008 article in the New York Times reported that while the Encyclopædia Britannica company led the industry in the 1990s, its thirty-two-volume set peaking in sales in 1990, figures have plummeted in recent years. The sales team at Encyclopædia Britannica rushed to offer online resources to its customers, but reports indicate that despite this effort, figures plummeted by 60 percent during the period of 1990 to 1996.

According to Jorge Aguilar-Cauz, president of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., libraries and schools now comprise the majority of its customers, and sales are only 10 percent of what they were in 1990. The Encyclopædia Americana has maintained its print volume sales, according to Greg Worrell, president of Scholastic Classroom and Library Group, but its long-term plan focuses on web-based sales. “The likelihood is there will not be the 2009 multivolume print version,” he acknowledged.