Transforming Textbooks: How Electronic Textbooks Can Reduce Costs and Expand Academic Resources in...

8/14/2019 Transforming Textbooks: How Electronic Textbooks Can Reduce Costs and Expand Academic Resources in Our Public University Systems

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Transorming

TextbooksHow electronic formats can reduce coand expand academic resources in oupublic university systems

Assembly Member Micah Z. Kellner

www.micahkellner.com

By 2010 CUNY Graduate School Public Policy Fellow Kimberly Libman


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he rising cost o college textbooks hasattracted the attention o students,parents, university administrators,aculty members, and lawmakers acrossthe country.1 At the same time, the

academic and textbook publishing industry hasbegun shiting toward increasing digitized textand electronic resource usage. More and moreteaching and learning is occurring in these virtual

environments.

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Tus, electronic textbooks andteaching resources are emerging as potential toolsor reducing the cost o textbooks and improvingaccess to higher education. Tis report summarizesthe research and political response to rising textbookcosts and presents a series o case studies prolinguniversities using electronic books and resources. It

concludes by articulating a long-term strategy andincremental steps or dramatically reducing the costo college textbooks or public university students inNew York State.

At the national level, the rising cost o collegetextbooks has been the subject o a number o reports.Most notably, the United States GovernmentAccountability Oce ound that the cost o collegetextbooks nearly tripled between 1986 and 2004.3 Te

ederal Advisory Committee on Student FinancialAssistances 2007 report on this issue concluded that, inaddition to taking steps to reduce textbook costs, thereis a need or a shit rom a supply-centered textbookmarket to a demand-centered one.4 Resulting ederallegislation aims to increase both transparency o thecost o textbooks and opportunities or students toshop or the lowest priced option.5

In New York, the rising cost o college textbooksmost directly aects the states nearly 625,000undergraduate public university students attendingeither State University o New York (SUNY) or City

University o New York (CUNY) schools.6 A recentreport rom New York State Comptroller TomasDiNapoli ound that the average SUNY and CUNYcollege reshman pays between $400 and $800 asemester or required textbooks.7Te increasing costo textbooks presents a barrier to low- and moderate-income amilies in New York State accessing highereducation.

1) McBain, Lesley. 2009. Cracking the Books: Policy Measuresto Contain extbook Cost. Association o State Colleges andUniversities.

2) 2009. Clicking on a new chapter: Te e-textbook is only one part o abigger revolution in online learning. Nature. 458(7238):549-550.

3) http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/acsa/gaoreport.pd

4) http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/acsa/turnthepage.pd

5) Higher Education Opportunity Act o 2008, Public Law No: 110-315.H.R.4137 sponsored by Rep. George Miller and S.1642 sponsored bySenator Edward M. Kennedy.

6) CUNY Oce o Institutional Research. Fall 2008 Students proleand Te State University o New York Fast Facts 2009.

7) Oce o the New York State Comptroller. extbook pricingdisparities. December 2008. Available at: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/reports/highered/textbookpricing12-18-08.pd

Introduction

In the fall of 2009, the average cuny freshmanpaId $536 each semester for textbooks.

(New York Times: The Signifcant Cost o Textbooks or CUNY

Students, August 17, 2009)


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Research suggests that a number opublishing industry and university practicessignicantly contribute to the rising costo textbooks. Tese include:1

Publishers shortening the time between new andpreviously published editions o textbooks, whichmakes older books in the used textbook market obsoletemore quickly;

Bundling supplementary materials such as workbooks and CD-ROMs into textbook packagesthat cost an average o 10% more than stand-alonebooks;

Textbooks purchased at campus bookstores cost morethan the identical book that may be purchased rom anonline retailer;

Marketing practices obscure textbook prices fromaculty instructors and thus eliminate sticker shockas a actor in selecting course materials.

Te marketplace or college textbooks is unique inthat the cost o books is not infuenced by the pricesthat students are willing to pay. Rather, because acultyinstructors select required textbooks, the instructors

serve as a third party and distort the normal pconstraints a supply-and-demand marketplace wogenerate. Furthermore, consolidation o the coltextbook industry to three major publishers (WPearson, and Cengage 2) signicantly hinders the pconstraints set in motion through competition3.

1) New York City Council Committee on Higher Education. 200Te Escalating cost o textbooks or CUNY students.

2) http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/library-news/2009/11/13/making-textbooks-aordable/

3) Allen, Nicole. 2008. Course correction: How digital textbooare o track and how to set them straight. Te Student PublicInterest Research Groups.

Understanding the problem

Single Variable CalCuluS: early TranSCendenTalS, a wIdely used college textbook publIshed by stewartcalculus, has released three new edItIons In under ten years [l i: si eii (2007), fieii (2002), f eii (1999)]


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Anumber o policy and practice-basedresponses have been advanced by universityadministrators, elected ocials, PublicInterest Research Groups, and entrepreneurs

to reduce the cost o textbooks, but none go ar enoughto ensure that college textbooks are aordable, oraddress the need or a undamental shit rom a supply-centered textbook market to a demand-centered one.

CUNY has allocated $2 million dollars to explore a range

o options or reducing the fnancial burden o textbooks onstudents. Te plan includes1:

- Promoting the use o online discount bookvendors;

- Encouraging the use o used textbooks;

- Developing student book cooperatives;

- Reducing college commissions at campusbookstores;

- Soliciting philanthropic support;

- Funding library acquisition o textbooks that

cost more than $75; and,- Funding additional library purchases oelectronic books.

Textbook rentals present yet another route to reducingthe cost o textbooks or students. A number o privatecompanies allow students to rent textbooks or varyingdurations o time at 40-70 percent o their sale price. Inaddition to reducing costs or students, textbook rentalcompanies increase revenues or publishers and authorswho receive ees or each rental rather than only a onetime purchase price. Tis response has already receivedunding or pilot programs through the ederal Higher

Education Opportunity Act.2 Increasing the use o library e-reserves and customizedcourse packs can eliminate the need or textbooks inmany college courses. Tis pedagogical strategy ocuseson leveraging aculty expertise and password protectedlibrary access to primary source materials.3

Electronic textbooks generally cost students about hathe price o printed textbooks because they eliminathe costs o printing, shipping, and distribution.4 Buexpiration dates on electronic textbook purchases caorce students in yearlong courses to pay or the sambook twice which eliminates the initial savings.

Open textbooks are electronic textbooks that apublished under an open license. Open textbooks aree to download, can be easily accessed online, an

can be printed without restriction or purchased in harcopy at a raction o what most textbooks cost.

A transition toward increased use o e-textbooks universities and state-wide educational systems is jubeginning. Te descriptions o these programs, theshortcomings and successes, suggest promising routo action or New York. ogether these examplhighlight that:- Web-based e-books and resources avoid the problemassociated with proprietary digital ormats;- Web-based e-books can be used on laptops and campus-based computing acilities, thus obviating thneed or additional hardware;- Open textbooks present a web-based and low-cooption or colleges and universities; and,- E-book pilot and adoption programs are motivateby potential cost savings, increasing access to more upto-date inormation covering a wide breadth o subjecand concerns about environmental sustainability.

CaliforniaIn May 2009, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegg

announced a plan to use open e-textbooks to reducosts, encourage collaboration between school districtand ensure that students have access to the most upto-date inormation available.5 Caliornia is the rstate to issue a mandate or schools to transition using e-textbooks. Unlike universities buying ine-textbooks contracts that oten rely on specic readdevices, Caliornias initiative ocuses on using re

Current eforts to address the problem


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open textbooks. So ar, the state has identied tenelectronic texts that meet at least 90 percent o thestates content standards or math and science. Teiropen ormat allows these digital texts to be projectedon a screen, read on a computer, and/or printed in partor in whole within the classroom.6

PrinCeton University (PU)In all 2009, PU began piloting the use o the

new Kindle DX e-book reader in three o its seminarcourses. Te DX is the only e-book reader with a colordisplay and screen large enough to view diagrams andtextbook pages. Te pilot aims to determine i e-bookscan cut down on paper usage without negativelyaecting educational experiences. Reducing paperusage is benecial to both environmental sustainabilityand PUs bottom line.7

northwest MissoUri stateUniversity (nMsU)

NMSUs pilot e-textbook program used the SonyReader as its e-book reading device, distributing theseto about 240 students. Tese devices were challengingto use and about 40 percent o students in the pilotreported studying less as a result, whereas only 17percent reported studying more. Over time, studentsand proessors became more comortable with thedevices and developed new studying and teachingtechniques. Te pilot also ound that some subjects arebetter suited to e-book usage than others. For example,most e-book readers do not have color displays, makingthem inappropriate or subjects like science andmedicine, which rely heavily on color illustrations.8

University of texas (Ut)

As early as 1999, U committed to using wbased e-books and acquired its e-book content throboth purchase and subscription. U has studied e-book usage compares to usage o its print collecti Tey ound that e-book usage was most populathe disciplines o computer science, economics, business. E-books were used less in medicine, sociolAmerican history, and literature. Overall the e-bcollection was mostly used or reerence checkU identied a number o advantages o e-books opaper books. E-books cannot be lost or stolen, because they are oten purchased, or licensed, in b

collections they expanded the number o titles heldU libraries. Some o the most popular e-book twere books that had previously been unavailable.9

1) http://www1.cuny.edu/portal_ur/cmo/i/9/14/index.html

2) Lwein, amar. extbook publisher to rent to college students.New York imes. August 13, 2009. Available at http://ww w.nycom/2009/08/14/education/14textbook.html?_r=1

3) http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/acsa/turnthepage.pd

4) Young, Jerey. 2009. Six lessons one campus learned about E-textboChronicle o Higher Education. 55(39):A18.

5) Peek, Robin. 2009. Caliornia charts a new digital rontier. Inormoday. July/ August: 13, 15.

6) Oce o the Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Gov. Schwarzenreleases ree digital textbook initiative phase 1 report. August 11. Available at: http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/text/press-release/12996

7) http://www.princeton.edu/ereaderpilot/

8) Young, Jerey. 2009. Six lessons one campus learned about E-textboChronicle o Higher Education. 55(39):A18.

9) Dillon, Dennis. 2001. E-books the University o exas experience1. Library Hi ech. 19(2):113-124.

wIkIbooks hosts the calIfornIa open source world hIstory project(://.ii./ii/costp_w_hi_p)

Th stt m o th pojct s to s Co Stt K-12 Sts to vop pt, opsoc txtooks tht w ppov o opto Cos Stt bo o ecto os Co pc schoos t ss cost th ct commc txtook ofs, thshp th Stt o Co sv mo (mo th $200M p ) wh pov moost cott o ts pc schoos.


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As the publishing industry transitions away rom paper-based products, it has developed a range o digittext ormats and content licensing and purchasing arrangements. With this prolieration, CUNY and SUNhave an opportunity to save money or their institutions and students while also increasing access to scholarresources. Te ollowing table presents some o the advantages and disadvantages o electronic publishing academic use as the publishing industry now stands.

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

E-book readers with displays appropriate for textbook useare just now reaching the market.

Most e-book and digital publishing models are designedto preserve copyrights and ensure revenue streams to pub-lishers rather than to improve experiences of consumers.

E-books bring added value for people who need to easilyenlarge text, convert text to speech, and for people whowish to data mine or search the contents of many booksat once.

E-books and reading devices are still enmeshed in propri-etary format and content networks that make it difcultfor large educational systems to ensure that any one de-vice and subsequent content network can meet the needsof all of its students, teachers, and researchers.

More than one book can be held on an e-book reader atany one time. This makes it physically easier to carry vee-books on one device instead of ve individual paperbooks.

E-books present a paradox of portability. While theirreduced bulk and electronic formats would make themappear more portable, within a university library systemthey are more limited in this regard than paper books be-

cause academic libraries cannot share e-books through in-terlibrary loan networks because of licensing restrictions.

Younger readers are more comfortable with studying andreading on electronic devices.

Scholarly and educational usages require different ca-pabilities from electronic or digitized texts and althoughthere are multiple electronic text formats in use, not all ofthem support both kinds of usage.

Thousands of textbooks, for a wide range of subjects, arealready available in digital formats. Some of these areopen textbooks and some must be purchased, but thereis still a range of resources available for instructors to

choose from.1, 2

Most electronic textbook purchases provide studentswith access to these books for limited periods of time(180 days) and have printing restrictions.

1) http://www.coursesmart.com

2) http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/02/digital-texts-could-turn-page-on-print-costs/

Advantages and disadvantages o using electronic texin an academic environment


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Below is a summary o pending New York State legislation on the pricing o college textbooks.

BILL # DESCRIPTION STATUS(as o 2/2010)

LEGISLATIVEHISTORY

A.564 (Cahill) Authorizes the trustees of the SUNY to create anAdvisory Review Board (ARB) for the review oftextbooks sold, purchased, or used for academicpurposes on all SUNY campuses. ARB would ne-gotiate with publishing companies and bookstores

to curtail rising textbook costs; require publishingcompanies to justify the introduction of new addi-tions of existing textbooks. In addition the legisla-tion would eliminate the marketing costs built intothe price of textbooks.

Referred toCommitteeon HigherEducation

A.355 (2007-2008);A.4766 (2005-2006)A.8316 (2003-2004)

A.1610(Zebrowski)

Would allow for New York State income tax deduc-tions for qualied taxpayers for the cost of textbooksthey have purchased at public or private universitiesin New York State.

Referred toWays andMeansCommittee

A.8914 (2007-2008)A.11494 (2005-2006); A.9771 (20032004).

A.3280

(Englebright)

Requires SUNY and CUNY to provide all textbookretailers, upon request, with information on text-

books to be used in courses of study when this in-formation is provided to on-campus bookstore.

Referred toCommittee

on HigherEducation

A.1518 (2007-2008)A.3877 (2005-2006)

A.6684 (2003-2004)A.4027 (2001-2002); A.7514-B(1999-2000); A.2878(1997-1998); S.1849(1995-1996); A.894(1993-1994)

A.5591 (Peralta)S.3104 (Diaz)

Authorizes the trustees of the SUNY and CUNY tocreate academic review boards to study the cost ofcollege textbooks.

Referred toCommitteeon HigherEducation

None.

A.7584 (Ortiz)Exempts all textbooks required or recommendedby college professors for use in a particular coursefrom sales and compensating use taxes.

Referred toWays andMeansCommittee

A.2350 (2007-2008)A.1965 (2005-2006)A.10386 (2003-2004

S.5941 (Rules State Comptrol-ler #16)

Requires institutions of higher education to post fullcourse listings with required textbooks on their web-sites at least six weeks prior to the start of classes toallow students to comparison shop for textbooks.

Referredto HigherEducationCommittee

None.

Pending NYS legislatio


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o ulll its mission oproviding low- andmoderate-incomeNew Yorkers withaccess to higher

education, CUNY had a reetuition policy or New York Cityresidents until 1976. Followingin this tradition, a policy aimedat taking the burden o textbookcosts o o CUNY and SUNYstudents and their amilies couldbe developed by leveraging the collective buying powero the nearly 625,000 undergraduate public universitystudents across New York. Such a collectivization obuying power has the potential to shit the textbookpublishing marketplace rom a supply-centered marketto a demand-centered one.

Current policy does not go ar enough to push orchanges in the publishing industry that will benetlow- and moderate-income amilies. A long-term vision or harnessing the opportunities presented in

this digital age ollows.1. SUNY and CUNY should demand, through direct

negotiations representing the collective buying powero their student populations, that publishers begin toprovide universities with the option to buy multiuserand multiplatorm licenses to e-textbooks.

2. Te role o libraries within public universitiesas sources or required course materials should beexpanded, while the role o campus bookstores shouldbe reduced as we shit to using electronic textbooksand teaching resources to lower the costs o highereducation. Such a shit toward utilizing more electronictexts would also bring the green benets o improvingthe environmental sustainability o CUNY and SUNYcampuses by reducing their consumption o paper-based books. CUNY and SUNY already have robuste-book inrastructures in place.

3. CUNY and SUNY should ensure that theyretain ownership o texts they purchase, that the textormats purchased or licensed support scholarly and

educational use, and eectively utilize resource sharinand distribution networks.

In this vision aculty instructors would delivtheir lists o required course readings to CUNand SUNY, who would collectively purchase multuser and multiplatorm e-textbook licenses or thestudents. Te cost o these licenses would be passeon to students through increases to their library antechnology ees and libraries would manage studenprivileges to access licenses or the courses in whic

they are registered. Tese ees would be nowhere nethe $500-$800 they currently pay or textbooks.

Because o their expanded purchasing poweCUNY and SUNY schools would be able to demanthat publishers sell them electronic textbooks anteaching resources in fexible ormats that studencould use on their existing hardware whether thostudents preer to use an e-book reader, laptop, desktop computer. CUNY and SUNY would alensure that these resources could easily be printed, istudent wishes, on campus at no cost, or at a very locost to students.

As public institutions o higher education, CUNand SUNY have a duty to use their collective, publiclnanced buying power to incentivize change in currepublishing industry practices. Such change is likely nonly to benet New York residents, but to spill ovand bring similar practices to institutions across thcountry.

A vision or the uture


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o promote this vision, the ollowing legislativeactions are recommended:

A.9893 (Kellner) - Authorizes the trustees o CUNYand SUNY to create a joint advisory board on the issueso textbooks cost, bulk electronic purchasing, open-

access textbooks, and utilization o library resources toachieve the ollowing:a. Identiy a comprehensive list o textbooks currently

in use that are available electronically;b. Identiy a list o e-textbook titles where CUNY

and SUNY can work together to maximize their bulklicense purchasing power;

c. Evaluate the potential or replacing currently usedtitles with comparable open textbooks;

d. Establish a unit to negotiate bulk purchases oelectronic textbook licenses with publishers on behalo the two university systems; and,

e. Support a culture change wherein individualdepartments are encouraged to develop guidelines andtrainings so aculty who wish to transition away romtextbooks and into using customized course packagesrom primary sources already purchased by SUNY andCUNY library systems are supported in their eorts.

A.9894 (Kellner) - Creates a pilot program or bpurchase electronic textbook delivery through CUand SUNY campus library systems. Te bill provcriteria or colleges and universities to be eligiblethe program and requires the chancellors o SUand CUNY to evaluate the results o the program

report to the Governor and legislature on its imon student textbook spending, students experien with electronic textbooks, aculty experiences identiying and using electronic textbooks, library time, and other inrastructure impacts.

A.9897 (Kellner) - Mandates that CUNY and SUlibrary acquisition contracts ensure that libraries retain the rights to the inormation they purchaselectronic ormats. Tis will ensure that electromaterials acquired by university libraries are availthrough interlibrary loan networks and that s

electronic materials are not restricted more thareasonable and required by copyright laws.

desktop, laptop, sony-ebook reader, amazon kindle, or apple pad? Electronic textbooks must beavailable in fexible ormats in order to be useul to all students.

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