AGU will cease print subscriptions to its journals in 2010, the first of what be I expect to be a rush of geoscience societies turning to electronic publication only.
AGU attributes the decision to the problem of printed versions increasingly differing from electronic versions, and to the increased costs of producing and mailing the printed versions.
The announcement is in the July 8 issue of EOS that I just read tonight. It's a modest story in the "About AGU" section. Maybe that's why we haven't heard much about the decision. Or perhaps more likely, it's not that big a deal for most of us.
Even a few years ago, such a move could have generated shock waves and outcries across the community. Today, we expect it and most will welcome it. It will be interesting to see how the other professional societies respond to this decision.
And how long before our daily newspaper is no longer delivered to our porches and driveways? I suspect that once a big paper makes the move, it will be like dominoes across the country. We live in a time of changing paradigms.