Jane Ciabattari broke the news on the National Book Critics Circle book blog (and The New York Times followed shortly thereafter): As of February 15th, The Washington Post‘s ‘Book World‘ will cease to be a standalone section, and all Sunday book content will be spread around into other parts of the paper.

Lots of interesting people consulted in the Times piece, including Marie Arana, the former editor of ‘Book World’ who took a buyout and left the paper at the end of last month. "I think it’s going to be a great disappointment to a lot of readers," Ms. Arana said. "I just hope that there’s enough coverage and emphasis and attention given on the pages where Book World will now appear in print in Outlook and Style and Arts to satisfy those readers."

Los Angeles Times books editor David Ulin, whose standalone section was shuttered in 2007, tried to sound a reassuring note, saying "it’s possible to keep book coverage robust without a stand-alone section… both by creative combination of using daily and Sunday print space and using the Web."

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