Having three children in college I took particular interest in your point/counterpoint opinion piece regarding the ageless problem of textbook costs. I am also amazed that in this technological age and at such sophisticated institutions as the University of Utah, the obvious solution is always overlooked or avoided – putting textbooks on CDs.
A CD publication could be easily updated yearly and at minimum cost. It could be duplicated easily by students on their own. There would be little inventory space, little shipping cost and considerably less environmental impact (how many forests would this save? How many cross-country truckloads?). Most students live by their laptops anyway, so textbooks on CDs make good sense. Unlike printed books, motion and sound can also be incorporated into CDs. Althought it’s debatable, advertising banners could also help defer expenses.
Obviously, the main consideration is copyright protection. Authors who go through all the trouble of writing books deserve to be compensated. I agree. It’s just a matter of how to go about paying them.
Instead of purchasing an expensive printed textbook, at registration why not have students pay a sensible “use fee” for the CD contents that are currently being used in the class? The proceeds would go to the authors, illustrators etc. as royalties. The unnecessary expenses saved in this system would be considerable. Imagine illuminating all the paper, printing, binding, shipping, and storage space costs, then splitting the dollar difference between the students and those who did the intellectual property work? From this division of savings authors and publishers could actually make more money, while students paid less.
Would people outside this system get free access to the CDs too? Yes, but admit it, compared to the registered-student demand, how many non-student sales do most esoteric textbooks see anyway? Very little. With substantially higher royalty revenues, most authors would welcome the trade-off. Those books that do have universal public demand could be sold in the tradition manner. Due to their wide appeal, such classics are usually printed in large numbers and are therefore more affordable for students.
Why would the University consider such a scheme? Textbooks currently consume a high portion of every student’s semester budget, with that burden substantially reduced, funds would be released so that many students could take more classes and graduate sooner. This improved graduation flow could greatly reduce the per-student subsidy burden that the University and the State of Utah must currently bear.
The only institutions hurt by this system are those that no longer have a technological/economical reason to exist.
Steven R. Linton720 East Arrowhead LaneMurray, Utah 84107
801-268-2855
