Digital texts are cost-effective, green

A new initiative by the Florida university system offers digital versions of expensive textbooks to students for free. Encompassing 124 titles so far, this initiative aims to reduce textbook costs through a partnership between the university system's nonprofit publishing arm, an independent publisher and the state's digital database of teaching material.

While teaching materials, including professors' lectures and sample exams, have become increasingly available online, textbooks have been slower in this regard. Several companies offer online textbooks, but they are few and far between, making Florida's initiative unique in terms of its comprehensiveness and end-user ease.

The WSN Editorial Board thinks NYU needs to take steps to initiate a similar program. Digital textbooks that students could either read on a computer or print for a fraction of the cost of published textbooks would simultaneously benefit the environment and student budgets.

NYU has already taken impressive steps toward going green, including implementing double-sided printing in some locations and limiting student printing through a reasonable quota. Offering digital textbooks seems like a natural next step, considering that each NYU student buys textbooks that use thousands of pages of paper each semester.

Additionally, the average student spends around $900 annually on textbooks and supplies, and costs have been rising at twice the rate of inflation in the past 20 years. As NYU students face rising costs in both the university and the city, digital textbooks would be a welcome source of relief, allowing the same knowledge to be disseminated at a fraction of the cost.

While some professors individually offer digital textbooks, NYU has a much larger potential impact. It could encourage major publishers to offer digital versions of their textbooks in order to expand their reach within the NYU market, and it could encourage professors to use these versions. Ultimately, the university cannot ultimately control the textbook industry for the benefit of its students, but it can prod others in the right direction.

Many parties, from authors and publishers to the bookstore and professors, are involved in the production and distribution of textbooks. This means that several institutional and infrastructural changes would be necessary for digital textbooks to become a viable option. But as a large university, NYU has the potential to jump-start some of that change, and we encourage it to do so.

E-mail the editorial board at editboard@nyunews.com.