According to Inside Higher Ed, some university presses are renting textbooks as ebooks.
For example, instead of buying a paperback or e-book for $20 at the Stanford University Press website, students and scholars can pay $5 to access an e-book for 14 days, or $10 for 60 days.
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Stanford is not alone. Academic presses at several other universities are running similar rental programs, including the presses at the University of Chicago, the University of Iowa, the University of Michigan, and Ohio University.
Links:
Link to original article at Inside Higher Ed
Link to referring article: Academic Presses push ebook rentals to spur interest in the format
Link to PassiveVoiceBlg where I learnt of this article.
This is awesome. I had a feeling we'd be moving into this territory very soon. I hope they start doing this for public school kids. The benefits are countless, and I don't just mean that that it would be encouraging kids to have e-readers. It would also lighten up the average backpack by 30 pounds or so (in the area where I live, kids can't have lockers. They have to carry ALL of their books, every day.)
ReplyDeleteI like the renting idea, but I'd prefer a permanent purchase (at a much reduced price). Most of these books are revised every few years anyway, and I know that some college professors do check every book to make sure it's the latest edition. My point is, I don't think piracy would be a huge issue with class books, and I think it would be to our benefit to have those books we study as a permanent reference.
I know! It would have been great to have something like this when I was in school. Good point about piracy.
ReplyDelete