Major publishers have done little to provide adequate lower-cost versions of most textbooks and advertise them to professors ordering books for their classes. In response, alternative and online publishers are offering lower-cost and even free versions of some textbooks. Although these alternatives have the potential to compete with the traditional publishers, they have not yet secured a significant part of the textbook market....
Students spend about $900 each year on textbooks, a high price tag that can pose a financial obstacle for students already facing rising tuition and dwindling financial aid....
In order to provide a snapshot of the lowercost textbook market, we examined the lowercost options offered by the major publishers in their online catalogues and identified several alternative publishers offering textbooks for a lower price or for free. We found:
A growing number of alternative publishers and faculty are offering lowercost and free textbooks....
These books offer the same educational value as traditional textbooks; faculty members we surveyed who have used these alternative textbooks in a classroom setting said they are satisfied with the books’ educational content.
Unfortunately, at this time these alternative publishers offer only a limited number of titles. In addition, some faculty members have raised concerns about online textbooks since not all students have convenient access to the Internet....
Posted by
Peter Suber at 8/17/2006 02:33:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
