Harry writes:
As you may have heard, the historic dictionary firm of Chambers in
Edinburgh is threatened with closure by the parent company Hachette
Livre.
They intend moving the English dictionaries to London and the
bilingual Harrap titles to Paris, involving not just the loss of 27
jobs in Edinburgh but the end of a publishing tradition going back
nearly two centuries. Chambers is a Scottish and British institution
dear to the hearts of word-lovers.
Yes, the advent of free resources on the internet has changed the
world of reference publishing, but it is far from clear whether all
options for the future of Chambers Harrap have been properly
considered in what appears to be a very drastic and possibly even
underhand move by Hachette. I feel strongly we shouldn’t just accept
this as inevitable. Hachette should be forced at the very least to
undertake a properly full and open review of the situation first, in
due consultation with the NUJ. If you wish to join with others in
urging them to think again, you may like to sign the online petition
at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/chambers-in-edinburgh/. It only
takes a few seconds.
More at http://sn.im/chambersharrap and http://harrycampbell.blogspot.com.