Abstract
Serials: The Journal for the Serials Community has been digitised and can be accessed in full on this website. All content is freely available on an open-access basis. Serials was published between 1988 and 2011. In 2012, the journal was retitled and is now published as Insights: the UKSG journal.
Highlights
Despite enormous advances in technology, the textbook is still the way most undergraduates receive their core course content.This article examines how the textbook has evolved into its present form and asks whether it is still relevant to contemporary students
This article explores the evolution of the textbook and examines why, despite huge investments by publishers, today’s students are spending less on textbooks and are not yet using electronic resources to replace them, relying instead on free handouts and Google. This is in stark contrast to the progress that has been made in professional markets where publishers like Thomson, Reed and Wolters Kluwer derive the majority of their revenues from digital products and services.Academics, it is argued, need to embrace digital courseware solutions, librarians need to offer new services and market themselves more effectively, and publishers need to think beyond e-books to deliver superior learning solutions
It briefly discusses the economics of textbook publishing and ends by highlighting some innovations, distractions and dilemmas as well as some opportunities for publishers, educators and librarians
Summary
Despite enormous advances in technology, the textbook is still the way most undergraduates receive their core course content. This article examines how the textbook has evolved into its present form and asks whether it is still relevant to contemporary students. It briefly discusses the economics of textbook publishing and ends by highlighting some innovations, distractions and dilemmas as well as some opportunities for publishers, educators and librarians
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