Needed: A Single Electronic Source for Textbooks

Students still obtain most educational content through textbooks and other printed materials. But as technology has changed, they are able to gain access to more of that content digitally, and often illegally. As textbook costs have increased, students have begun scanning and illegally sharing books over peer-to-peer file-sharing networks to save money. But when students do not purchase their textbooks, everyone loses out: Publishers and authors lose revenue, professors have a harder time teaching unprepared students, and colleges struggle to keep the bookstore profitable. The author proposes a new system in which publishers sell digital content to colleges, permitting institutions to provide texts for students, lower students' costs, protect copyright, strengthen the publishing industry, reduce inefficiencies in distributing content, and help conserve the environment. It is time, says the author, to shift the paradigm for students from a system of information for sale to one where unlimited access is a basic right.