O.E.D. Editor Michael Proffitt Says The Time For Dictionaries Has Come

By Dianna Dilworth 

oedIn a profile piece with The New York Times, Michael Proffitt, the new chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary sounded optimistic about the future of the dictionaries.

“My idea about dictionaries is that, in a way, their time has come,” he told The Times. “People need filters much more than they did in the past.”

In Proffitt’s opinion, the only way to connect the O.E.D. to modern readers is to make it available digitally and to make it searchable for digital readers. “As much as I adhere to the O.E.D.’s public reputation. I want proof that it is of value to people in terms of practical use,” he explained to The Times.