How many elephants?

The year 2005 saw 172,000 new books released in the United States, according to Bowker, the world's leading provider of bibliographic information. but what does 172,000 titles mean?

"To transport one copy of each title, the vehicle would have to be capable of hauling 86 tons or 21 full grown elephants. Laying the books down in a straight line would require a little over 16 miles of railroad tracks."

<idle musing>
That's a lot of paper! Eisenbrauns contributed about 12 of them :)
</idle musing>