After 244 years reference book firm Encyclopaedia¹ Britannica has decided² to stop publishing its famous and weighty 32-volume print edition.

经历244年之后，大英百科全书公司决定停止发售其著名的、沉重的、多达32卷的印刷版百科全书。

It will now focus on digital expansion amid rising competition from websites such as Wikipedia.

The firm, which used to sell its encyclopaedias³ door-to-door, now generates almost 85% its revenue from online sales.

It recently launched a digital version of its encyclopaedias for tablet PCs.

"The sales of printed encyclopaedias have been negligible for several years," said Jorge Cauz president of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

"We knew this was going to come."

'A lot faster'

Companies across the globe have been trying to boost their online presence in a bid to cash in on the fast-growing market.

Various newspapers, magazines and even book publishers have been coming up with online versions of their products as an increasing number of readers access information on high-tech⁴ gadgets⁵ such as tablet PCs and smartphones.

Britannica said while its decision to focus on online editions was influenced by the shift in consumer pattern, the ability to update content at a short notice also played a big role.

"A printed encyclopaedia is obsolete⁶（废弃的） the minute that you print it," Mr Cauz said.

"Whereas our online edition is updated continuously."

At the same time, frequent users of the encyclopaedia said they preferred using the online version more than the print one.

"We have to answer thousands of questions each month through chat, through telephone, through email and we have to do that as quickly as humanly possible," Richard Reyes-Gavilan of Brooklyn Public Library told the BBC.

"In many instances doing a keyword search in an online resource is simply a lot faster then standing⁷ up looking at the index of the Britannica and then finding the appropriate volume."

Encyclopaedia Britannica, the company, has largely moved away from its encyclopedia⁸ work focusing most of its energies in recent years on educational software.