Not really "ebook" in 1971. I think the modern interpretation of eBook is the pairing of a book-like reading device with the electronic content.
In 1971 he came up with the idea of storing books in electronic form for the purpose of using them electronically to read (from a screen), but there was obviously no reader at the time. Most people would not consider that an ebook.
Furthermore, I am pretty sure publishers were already storing books in electronic form, albeit for the purpose of editing and publishing and not for reading. So I would suspect the idea of keeping digital versions wasn't all that innovative either.
But he did have a vision of making a digital repository, and for that he was ahead of his time. In my neighborhood they built this monster building to house a library and I remember thinking how silly it was to spend millions when every volume in that building could have been stored digitally in a few server racks. We have a ways to go to fulfill his vision.
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