The latest Encyclopaedia Britannica 32-volume edition will be the last to see print as its publisher announced this week the retirement of the book collection after more than two centuries of delivering knowledge to millions to around the world.

As in the case of numerous publications, technology and the internet caught up with the iconic encyclopaedia, which first came out in 1768 and sold in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. President Jorge Cauz told The Associated Press (AP) on Tuesday that present inventories of the collection's current edition will simply be allowed to clear out then the company will focus on marketing its digital and online versions

Cauz admitted too that the company had been anticipating of this moment - that the collection's print version would fade out in the face of the wealth of information that the internet carries for millions to access easily, and free of charge.

But Cauz insisted that the decision to abandon the print edition was not prompted by the dominance of both Google and Wikipedia, which have become the major internet portals for global researchers.

The Britannica chief said the company has simply realigned its business focus to adopt with the changing times and habits of researchers and to remain profitable at the same time.

"This has to do with the fact that now Britannica sells its digital products to a large number of people," Cauz told AP.

"A printed encyclopaedia is obsolete the minute that you print it whereas our online edition is updated continuously," he added.

The news was greeted with mixed reactions by scholars, who value the information delivered by Britannica for quality and reliability.

According to Lynne Kobayashi of the Hawaii State Library, Britannica's printed edition, while reflects historical value, was the not the defining value of the book collection.

"The most important thing about Britannica is that Britannica is relevant and vibrant because it brings scholarly knowledge to an editorial process to as many knowledge seekers as possible," Kobayashi told AP.

"While Wikipedia has become ubiquitous, the Britannica remains a consistently more reliable source," she added.

Yet Britannica's vaunted reliability failed to attract more buyers' attention in the past decades, Cauz conceded, revealing too that "sales of printed encyclopaedias have been negligible for several years."

Each set retails for $1395 and the last year that the company posted record sales was back in 1990, Cauz said, then the decline started by middle part of the decade, he added.

The 'transition', however, is being handled with positive attitude by the Chicago-based firm, as Cauz shared that since its inception in 1994, the online Britannica has so far engaged with more than 100 million users.

Adjustments have been implemented too, the company said, with the website allowing for more interactive experience with users and its deployment on mobile devices, the emerging trend that has been picked up millions across the globe.