A Report on the Feasibility of Textbook Rental - IBHE

According to the Student Monitor, in 2006 the awareness of availability of digitalversions from campus bookstores and/or websites grew by 6 percent over 2005. Students whohave purchased digital textbooks from campus bookstores or online companies have grown from4 percent in 2005 to 6 percent in 2006. Students surveyed by the Student Monitor cited thefollowing reasons for choosing to purchase e-books:• student likes to try new technology (43%);• e-book/digital version was recommended to the student (40%);• e-book was less expensive than the printed version (31%); and• e-book was more convenient than the printed version (9%) (Student Monitor 2006).Reasons cited by students for not using e-books include:• student preferred traditional printed textbooks (54%);• student preferred to purchase used textbooks (22%);• printed versions were more convenient to purchase (13%);• e-book was not available (13%);• student did not own a computer (7%); and• student was unaware of e-books (7%) (Student Monitor 2006).E-books. E-books are digital textbooks that students may view electronically over theinternet. Approximately 3,000 e-book titles are currently offered by publishers. E-books are lesscostly because large upfront capital, warehousing, inventorying, and redistribution costs are notrequired (Schroeder 2006). “In the last year the typical price of digital content (academic) was 20– 30 percent below the retail price of the printed version (new book)” which does not includeassociated costs, such as paper and printer. “Since buyback is not an option for digital content, thetotal cost of ownership is often the highest (most expensive) for digital” (National Association ofCollege Stores response to draft report 2006).The standard length of time an e-book is accessible is one semester, though standardsvary by publisher. According to responses to the IBHE survey, two community colleges and fourpublic universities offer e-books. Another community college previously offered e-books, butended the practice due to lack of student interest (Institutional Responses to Survey 2006). Thisalternative would have no fiscal impact on the State and little to no impact on institutions.Although e-books can be less costly than printed textbooks, they have limitations. Forinstance, electronic versions available over the internet may have limited accessibility forindividuals with disabilities. Also, due to the large amount of data that must be downloaded,broadband connections are highly desirable. Broadband connections, however, may not beaccessible in all geographical locations and are usually more expensive than a dial-up connection.These limitations could be addressed through multimedia cd-rom textbooks, which would sharethe production and materials cost advantages of internet-based e-textbooks.Freeload Press, a Minnesota publisher, offers free e-books that include advertisements.As with all e-books, Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to download a textbook from FreeloadPress. Consequently, the aforementioned limitations are applicable to users of Freeload Press.The following chart illustrates the cost of e-books versus the cost of printed newtextbooks, without a reduction in cost for buy back, for a two-semester freshman load.-45-