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The article discusses the alleged demise of the use of paper in light of the increase in digital technologies. Topics discussed include the rise of e-books and their impact on printed books, the worldwide consumption and production of paper, and books including "The Myth of the Paperless Office" by Richard Harper, "Parchment, Paper, Pixels: Law and the Technologies of Communication" by Peter M. Tiersma, and "On Paper: The Everything of Its Two-Thousand-Year History" by Nicholas A. Basbanes.

Features Center for Book and Paper Arts at Chicago, Illinois-based Columbia College's paper making program. Columbia College's curriculum; Paper making procedure.

Looks at Rutgers University in New Brunswick's papermaking project designed to help villagers in several settlements in Ecuador. Overview on the life condition in the village; Building of a pulp-processing facility in the industrial town of Ibarra; Key for successful papermaking with sisal; Handling of the Rutgers project by CARE Ecuador, a nonprofit agency.

The article profiles Terry Belanger, who retired in September 2009 as director of the Rare Book School, which he founded and where he teaches. It notes that his approach to rare books is that of a mechanic. He is interested in what can be learned from the physical characteristics of rare books and the way they are put together. His students learn to set movable type, print with a press and research bookbinding, papermaking, illustration techniques and typography. His students have gone on to become rare book librarians in major universities. Belanger, it states, is interested in functionality. His approach replaced a fusty worhipfulness towards old books, which he calls pretty book syndrome. He collects flawed specimens so he can take them apart to teach his students how they are made.