The Long View

Textbook expenses in higher education have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, with the burden of managing costs being placed mostly on professors (as if we were responsible for textbooks’ costs).

Why are they so expensive? In part because publishers insist on coming out with new editions every three to five years, even in fields where currency is not generally an issue. For example, a college writing handbook does not need frequent updating, but new versions come out with alarming frequency because publishers rely on the steady revenue streams that new editions provide (which is lost to the used textbook business over the life of an edition). Most faculty don’t want or need new editions, but we are at the mercy of publishers. Availability of older editions is unreliable; learning media or on-line features are frequently only available to students with the current issue.

Now an article in the Jan. 3 issue of Inside Higher Ed suggests that the dawning of electronic textbooks may have arrived. Visit http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/01/03/ebooks .

While some profs may yawn and say, “Yeah, we’ve heard it all before,” the new Amazon Kindle technology (mobile connectivity to the book collection) partnered with social networking features (sharing notes and other interactive features) may make this the moment.

So far I’ve not been impressed with electronic readers like Sony Reader or my tablet PC’s Microsoft reader. Too clunky. And I wouldn’t leave either device on my beach blanket.