The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Merger Allows University Press To Continue Operations

The Utah State University Press will merge with another academic publisher, ensuring its survival in the face of severe budget pressures at the Logan campus. Although the press’ assets will be transferred to the University Press of Colorado, its editorial operations will continue to operate out of USU’s Merrill-Cazier Library, publishing books under its old imprint. “Rather than having eight institutions with separate presses, we have eight institutions funding one joint press,” UPC director Darrin Pratt said. “When you are small you have a lot of business issues you are on the wrong side of. Creating economies of scales will be important for the future of small university presses.” Read more at:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53668117-78/press-usu-colorado-university.html.csp

Higher Education Needs Content Strategies For Instructional Materials

Instructional content in higher education used to be a simple matter: the Instructor selected textbooks, maybe put together a set of badly photocopied readings, and added his or her own course notes. But as "digital" washes over higher education, the issue of instructional content has become increasingly complex. Options now include ebooks, OER, self-publishing, LMS-based content, digital textbook supplements, freemium textbooks, digital course packs, print-on-demand, library subscription services, custom-publishing, and the still complex nature of Internet copyright laws. It is time for a more coordinated, institutional approach to managing instructional content. Read more at:
http://todayscampus.com/article/Content_Strategy

CSU Will Advertise Publisher's Textbooks To Faculty In Exchange For Lower Student Prices

In exchange for putting the name "Cengage" in front of textbook consumers at the nation's largest university system, the company will rent its electronic textbooks for 60 percent off the hard-copy price - about a 10 percent drop from what students are now charged for temporary access to e-books. The university and the company see the deal as benefiting them both: publishers can expand their growing e-book market. Professors like the features of e-books that make their lives easier, and students get a price break. The odd new role for CSU administrators - promoting a company's products over the next three years - turns out to be the university's perhaps innovative way of addressing one of higher education's most vexing dilemmas: sky-high textbook prices. Read more at: 
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/21/BA4H1N8C6J.DTL#ixzz1n8kNWJsf

At This Institution The Print Textbooks Are Outselling Their Digital Counterparts

On Jan. 19, Apple, Inc. released a new version of its iBooks digital bookstore, the latest in a recent surge of new technologies. The increasing popularity of digital reading, however, has not yet reached UR. e-Textbooks have been available at the bookstore since 2004 and students can rent or purchase them at prices similar to those of standard textbooks.  They can also be purchased online at the University bookstore website. Nevertheless, there are many practical problems surrounding the use of e-Textbooks on campus. UR Bookstore manager Maria Ferrante noted that, despite the widespread availability of e-Textbooks, the digital forms of many textbooks are much less popular than the hardcover versions. In practice, students who purchase e-Textbooks generally only do so when the bookstore has run out of hard copies and the student is desperate for the material. Read more at:
http://www.campustimes.org/2012/02/02/e-books%E2%80%99-popularity-rising-but-ur-students-choose-paper/

Publishers Were Already Working To Prepare Textbooks To The iPad

For most of the past six months, Vicky Shen, an editor at textbook publisher Pearson Education in Boston, has been living with a secret. Just a few blocks away in the Back Bay, Bethlam Forsa, executive vice president of global product development at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Inc. was working on the same undercover project. Both were preparing electronic editions for last week’s launch of an initiative from Apple Inc. to put textbooks on its iPad tablets. Read more at: http://articles.boston.com/2012-01-26/business/30663246_1_digital-textbooks-ipad-sarah-rotman-epps

They Can Save Money But E-Textbooks Are Not Ready For Primetime

VSU, a 129-year-old historically black college in Petersburg, Va., knows Martin isn't the only one. More than half of its students routinely skip buying textbooks. For a solution, the school is turning to e-textbooks. VSU partnered with Flat World Knowledge, a start-up publisher that produces exclusively written e-books with "open" content that can be modified by professors. With their promise of ubiquity, convenience and perhaps affordability, e-textbooks have arrived in fits and starts throughout college campuses. Despite emerging attempts at innovation, the industry has been slowed by clunky technology, the lasting appeal of print books, skeptical students who scour online for cheaper alternatives, and customer confusion stemming from too many me-too e-textbook platforms that have failed to stand out. Read more at:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-01-16/ebook-textbook-sales/52603526/1 

 

Wiley Works To Transform Higher Education With Technology

When David Wiley sees something broken, he wants to fix it, especially if it has to do with access to education. With emerging technology that can transform the way instructional content is delivered, the Brigham Young University scholar contends that now is the time to reform a system bogged down by proprietary concerns. "There are already today so many technologies that have so much potential if they are used appropriately," Wiley said. "We need fresh thinking. We’ll find pragmatic ways to move this stuff into practice." Read more at:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53239716-78/education-digital-research-wiley.html.csp

Students Still Not Warming Up To E-Textbooks

Students who purchased e-textbooks saved only $1 in some cases when compared with others who bought traditional books, according to a new study. The two-year study by Daytona State College, funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, evaluated students who bought traditional books, rented print books, rented e-textbooks and purchased e-books. A few years ago, the introduction of e-books in college bookstores held promise for saving students money. Instead, they've fallen flat -- with many students still preferring a paper option. Fewer than 1 percent of students who shop at the CU Bookstore are choosing e-book titles, according to officials. "I'm old-school," said Kyla DeForest, a University of Colorado junior studying marketing. "I still prefer a traditional textbook." Read more at:
http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-news/ci_19692985

Best Books About Higher Education In 2011

What were the best books of the year on higher education? A panel of ten prominent people in the field, invited to vote by Minding the Campus, picked as their top two choices,"Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses" by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa; and "Crazy U: One Dad's Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College"by Andrew Ferguson.  Read more at:
http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2011/12/best_books_of_2011.html

Nature's Digital College Textbook May Take E-TextbooksTo The Next Level

When a college textbook, “Principles of Biology,” comes out from the Nature Publishing Group in January, one place it won’t be is on the shelves of school bookstores. That’s because the book was designed to be digital-only. Students will pay not for a printed edition at a bookstore, but for permanent access on the Internet ($49). This isn’t your usual technical tome. The pages have some pizazz: they are replete with punchy, interactive electronic features — from dynamic illustrations to short quizzes meant to involve students rather than letting them plod, glassy-eyed, from one section to the next. Audio and video clips are woven into the text. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/business/online-textbooks-aim-to-make-science-leap-from-the-page.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha26