I have a 2008 RS Guide book for Rome - should I get a current version?

Get a new one. It will have answers to questions you don't yet even know to ask.

Well restaurants reviews are everywhere on the web for free.
If you are on budget you can always go get a travel guide book at a tax payer funded public library.

You could just get the Pocket Rome version. It might have all the update information you might like to have.

I have a 2014 Scandinavia RS book I used to just get started with itineary ideas and I also appreciate the writers' style for history and like the self-guided orientation and museum walks. Rome is several thousand years old, after all! Depending on your comfort with the Internet you can get everything online, from these RS Forums to accurate museum exhibits and operating times direct from their websites. I use Trip Advisor extensively and Booking.com for hotel reviews, too...

I would imagine there have been enough changes to warrant buying the book. Example, I've heard the Pantheon charges an admission fee now and it didn't when we were there in 2008.

There's a couple of ways to look at this. If you just need it for maps and sights - no. For hotels and restaurants: you can combine your book with Internet info.. You can accept that there will be a couple of minor bugaboos like the new admission charges at Pantheon and new security at some Churches. I traveled twice to Italy. First time - few barricaides. Now, more churches have barricaides and security. Sad - but what other option is there.
If you want updated fees and times on everything - then just buy a new travel book.

If you plan on using the guide to identify hotel candidates, the absolutely. That sort of stuff changes pretty frequently.

When I first started traveling in my early 20s, $15 or $20 was a big deal to me and it migh tbe to her as well. Back then, I traveled with guide books that were 5 to 10 years old and did OK. I still use older books that I might already have for a country when planning, supplanted with current versions that I get from the library as well as the internet. Then based on what I see in the library book, I might buy the new version.

When I read the OP's question, my first thought was the same as Gordon's. 10 years out of date is a lot for a guidebook. Yes, most if not all, updated info will be available online (entrance costs, hotel and restaurant costs, opening-closing hours, etc) so you really don't need an updated guidebook for that. But the OP did not mention that she would be predominantly using the internet for those items. Hotels, restaurants, and even museums and sites, close/go out of business, and new ones open up so an old guidebook won't be helpful to locate those. Maps for walking tour routes change based on construction, road re-routings, etc also. So, in the end, it all depends on what you plan on using the guidebook for.

Speaking as a librarian, yes, 2008 is way too old. Truth be told, anything over a year old is too old for me. But, I'm now working with a 3-year old Scandinavia book because the 2018 one won't be out until after I leave on my trip. Sometimes we just have to adjust. In cases like that, online is a friend, but there is information in older (not 10 years old) RS books that is written and organized in ways that make it easier to understand than working through results from an online search.

I've found the Explore Europe section on this website very useful. This is the link to Rome. Other cities in Italy are also available.

I've always found RS restaurant recommendations to be be very worthwhile, so for that part, I'd say, yes. Also, online ticket ordering information has changed a lot since then, so that might also be helpful (but also searchable on the internet, so not as essential in a guidebook). You don't mention hotels, so maybe that's not a concern. But, if you are looking at hotels, you'd def. want an updated book (we've found better deals through airbnb and vrbo.com than at hotels). The library suggestion above might be a good option (but I always like to mark up my guidebook and tab things, so if you're like me, maybe not).

DMCario - I too have always enjoyed RS recommendations. thank you for your responses. I wasn't concerned with the cost. I was more concerned with my growing library of guide books and didn't want to add another of the same place unnecessarily. I ordered an up-to-date version.

I havean 1895 Baedeker that covers Venice. It is still remarkably accurate, oven though it is 120 years ago.

Glad you ordered an up-to-date version.

It may seem odd for a librarian, but I don't have a collection of guidebooks. It's blasphemy for some and standard practice for others, but I rip mine apart and keep only the pieces appropriate to my trip. I toss the pieces when I leave the location they cover. I'm not a person who goes to the same place again for a very long time, and then only if I really want to see something I missed before, so a newer version of the guidebook is always in my budget if I ever go back.

I like the above post about the 120 year old guide book. The way I see it, the Pantheon and so many other sites have been around for hundreds of years. So, a ten year old guide book is just fine.
There was a PBS show with a guy named Michael who intentionally used a 100 year old guide book. Then, he took trains and compared travel times with the past, compared costs, and looked for buildings/sites to see what they look like now. Interesting travel concept.

Try thriftbooks.com you can find 1-3 year old books for under $5

For restaurants a newer book is probably a good idea.

tcumom0613, you've asked a perfectly valid question that deserves a civil, polite response. I agree with you that there was no need for snark.

From my 1895 Baedeker.
“The Carnival, which formerly presented a gayer and lighter scene at Venice than any other city in Italy, has of late entirely lost its significance.”

Well, perhaps things have changed a little.

My apologies if I offended some. It was meant to be more tongue in check but it didn't turn out that way. Sorry. But I would get a new book.

I always get a new guidebook if my current one is 2 years old or more. I've found in the past that information such as opening hours, museum cards, etc. change greatly from year to year and I've received some surprises in the past when I've showed up to a place I wanted to visit with information based on an old guidebook only to find that it was now closed on that day of the week or even closed entirely for renovations. Of course, these changes can still happen between the time a new book is published and the date when you show up for your trip. But I also like to have the most up-to-date information on ticket prices and transportation fees.

Glad you got the new book. We got updated books for all our destinations for our trip last fall. Sure, the sites and attractions hadn't moved, and the walking tours hadn't changed (much). And yes, I could have gotten a lot of stuff by searching all over the Internet for things that had changed. Except how would I know they had changed if I didn't have the new guidebooks that showed the changes? New for us (because yes, it had been THAT long since our last trip) were the Oyster cards in London and Passe Navigo in Paris. That alone was worth the price of the books. His transportation advice in the books is priceless. And I like having all (or at least most) of the info at my fingertips in print and without requiring batteries.

Speaking up for older books -- I found the "eating in Paris" pages I carried for last year's trip after I borrowed a library copy of Paris 2018. Cross-checked to see differences. Found about 5 new restaurants, about 3 which are no longer listed. Almost entirely the same words in the descriptions. Occasionally a price difference. I annotated my old pages.

There's a section on the RS website which lists changes (closures, hours of operation) made to older books.

FWIW, I think Rick's restaurant recommendations are nowhere near as reliable as his other recs, on lodging, activities, transportation. We've had some truly awful meals at some of Rick's restaurants. (And I'm a BIG fan of Rick.)

For Hotels and restaurants,Trip Advisor is much better because it covers a much larger Field of choices.
Mike