There are two types of readers in this business. For those who like to scan for their news in quick bites - or bytes - the digital media seems to be your connection.

Those who crave more in-depth analysis, meanwhile, still have the option of having the feel of a newspaper or book in their hands. Like most other daily newspapers, we continue to deliver a product in both hand-held and online formats.For writers, the Internet has certainly become a valuable search tool. The world is literally an open book where facts and figures can be Googled in seconds. That same research would have taken hours of our time just a few decades ago.Some, like myself, favor holding a book rather than an electronic device, which is the way I spent a portion of last weekend. I picked up a copy of A Special Valor, a book about the U.S. Marines in the Pacific War and couldn't wait to get into it. It was written by Richard Wheeler, who lived in Pine Grove and authored 18 military-related books before his death in 2008.To military historians, the information he presents is not something to be quickly scanned. Hearing it on audio or viewing it on e-book somehow doesn't connect for me.I recall once reading that the late historian and author Shelby Foote, who became something of a cult figure through Ken Burns' documentary on the Civil War, did all of his writing in long-hand which I'm sure many see as something out of the Stone Age. But no one could weave a Civil War story in print like Foote or deliver it audibly to a live audience in his distinctive Southern drawl.Like Wheeler, he was a former Marine and in the field of military history, I consider both authors to be national treasures.On a more somber note which reflects these economic times, we learned last week that another book manufacturer, the Chicago-based RR Donnelley plant located just outside of Bloomsburg, is closing, which means about 400 people will lose their jobs.Officials at the company, which has been printing books for more than 30 years, blame the demise on the creation of e-books.In one theme in an old Seinfeld episode, neurotic George is upset because his once-separate friendships were suddenly getting together and in his analytical mind, "worlds were colliding."To satisfy the die-hard print fans like myself, we hope the friendships we have with both the world of print and with electronic journalism can co-exist in our speed-driven society a while longer.By Jim Zbickjzbick@tnonline.com