For Immediate Release
Sherri Voebel | 3 Mar. 2015
E-Textbooks: Digital Disruption – Unleashing the Next Wave of Innovation
Louisiana’s full time college students spend on average $1200 - $1300 on print textbooks per year. This is in line with a national report produced by The College Board. A part time student may spend $600 per semester on textbooks and lab manuals. Students are surprised to learn that TOPS (Taylor Opportunity Program for Students) a program of state scholarships for Louisiana residents who attend either one of the Louisiana Public Colleges does not pay for text books and some other line items. “Other types of financial aid may cover textbooks, “says Ms. Heather Poole, Director of Admissions at Central Louisiana Technical and Community College.
A student who completes a baccalaureate degree degree in 5 years will spend over $6000 in textbooks. “That is a significant amount of money for most families.” says Ms. Voebel.
“Using statistics from the Louisiana Board of Regents for the time period 2009 – 2014 for all students enrolled in Louisiana Public Colleges and Universities, the estimated cost for textbooks is $1.33 billion dollars ($US). According to many, this figure is conservative. In some fields, such as STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology & Mathematics), accounting, medicine and law textbook costs may be significantly higher,” said Ms. Voebel.
“Many instructors are using E-textbooks” to bring down the cost of education and make book buying more affordable for students and parents. Students can now find more than 40,000 titles in digital form at up to 60% below hardcover price. E-commerce site Course Smart offers more than 90% of core higher education digital learning content. And some colleges and universities are providing electronic textbooks for a very small fee — or totally free.
“Instructors didn’t think of digital as central to their performance. Because in the past, it hasn’t been. But now, your students, your instructors and your publishers are fundamentally digital “. “However, a piecemeal strategy of bolting on learning management systems or teaching methods is no longer sufficient. Instead, you must think of your college as part of a dynamic ecosystem of value that connects digital resources inside and outside the college as needed to compete. You must harness digital technologies, both to deliver a superior educational experience and to drive the agility and operational efficiency you need to stay competitive,”
Many academic courses such as English, Math & Psychology lend themselves to E-textbooks. “In Alexandria, many high school students are already using electronic courseware for their classes.” At some schools, such as Bolton High School educational materials are licensed and loaded onto a CD-ROM and provided to students at the beginning of the semester for some academic courses. At LSU-A, some instructors offer students the choice between purchasing an e-textbook or a hard-bound copy. The choice is left to the professor or instructor.
E-textbooks have many advantages. They can be downloaded onto a tablet or laptop. E-textbooks are downloaded like electronic library books and require a User ID and PIN. Tablets can be carried anywhere. “So, don’t be surprised if your son’s or daughter’s book bag isn’t as full as it once was,” said Ms. Voebel. “At Central Louisiana Technical Community College instructors embed electronic and web materials into MOODLE. CLTCC students log in with their student ID to access assignments and materials on the MOODLE Learning Management System. “It’s terrific, says Ms. Voebel, “Book or print resources must reside on a piece of paper – but electronic course materials can be linked to the internet and electronic journals for further reading”. “Students at CLTCC have access to 88 databases – which have both full-text e-Books, encyclopedias, references and full-text articles. The ProQuest nursing database alone has 1702 Instructional nursing and allied health videos. These are available over the web 24 X 7. In fact, newer libraries license most of their materials electronically, ensuring that materials will be up to date and meet SACSCOC accreditation requirements“.
“I grew up in the era of printed books and there is a warm cozy feeling we associate with curling up next to a good book and a cup of coffee. Don’t get me wrong. I love e-books, too. Now, I download a couple of e-books onto my Samsung tablet weekly. The backlighting on a tablet makes reading easier for those of us over 40. Our eyes aren’t as young as they once were (LOL).”
So what’s the big thing with technology? According to IDC, an industry group that follows computer and tablet sales, Tablet sales rose 11.5 percent year-over-year to 53.6 million units and the US market saw 18.5 percent growth, helped by back to school sales. (October 30, 2014). With the price of tablets becoming more competitive and tablets providing more functions, e-readers are not faring as well.
According to personal correspondence between Ms. Voebel and Ms. Nadine Vassallo of the Book Industry Sellers Group (BSIG), the figures from higher education publishers bear out the fact that the e-Textbook market is growing. Digital course materials more than doubled between 2010 and 2013, while printed textbooks declined from $7,992,235,429 (thousands) to $4,321,875,242 (thousands). This covers only publisher sales and does not cover retail sales. “While the print market is not going away, the electronic e-textbook market is growing wildly,” says Ms. Voebel
What’s the story about FREE textbooks? Open textbooks are part of a larger movement called "Open Educational Resources" An open textbook is a textbook with an open copyright license that allows the material to be freely accessed, shared and adapted. In fact, Open licenses allow instructors to adapt, remix, or customize existing open textbooks to maximize instructional content to meet their own learning objectives. Many open textbooks are developed through traditional peer review, others are vetted by experts. As with any textbook, the instructor is the final judge of whether an open textbook meets the needs of the course. These textbooks are free for anyone to view and download in an online format and can be made available in a print format at a nominal cost.
You can find more information here: www.cltcc.edu >>library>>library administration>>open textbooks. Or go to our cloud site: http://cltcclibrary.cltcc.edu/ >>library administration >> open textbooks.
Author: Sherri Voebel
Sherri is the Administrative Dean of Library Services at Central Louisiana Technical Community College (CLTCC) since November 2013. CLTCC Bobcat Library opened its doors in November 2013 with the majority of its resources offered online through membership in LALINC (Louisiana Academic Library Information Network Consortium) in cooperation with LOUIS. CLTCC Library has seven (7) Learning Resource Centers that include their main Library in Alexandria as well as Libraries at Oakdale, Leesville, Avoyelles, Winnfield, Jena, and Ferriday site locations. These libraries offer electronic resources available 24/7, reference books and inter-library loan to students. Ms. Voebel is dedicated to preparing our future workforce with the necessary research skills & computer knowledge to prepare them for the competitive job market.
Ms. Voebel graduated with an MLIS from LSU in August 1996 and earned her B.S. from Mary Hardin Baylor University in 1976. Ms. Voebel has worked in magnet, academic, trade and corporate libraries and is active in both SLA and ALA. She served as a professional trainer for Questel (France) and Delphion (IBM JV) providing search training to librarians, engineers, scientists and attorneys. Ms. Voebel architected web portals and integrated meta-data for retrieving scientific, legal and corporate documents. She has worked with data visualization tools for over 20 years and received notable mention for her contribution on data-mining projects such as Themescape (Batelle NW), and Anacubis (IBM/i2 Group). Prior to her life in Librarianship, she managed a Legal Services firm and worked as an Applications Engineer in analytical chemistry.
The remainder of this story will be presented Friday, March 6, 2015 at the LCTCS Conference in Baton Rouge at the River Center. Instructors and administrators from across Louisiana’s Technical and Community Colleges will learn how this new model can work with their courses. Panelist will include Mr. Russel Primeaux, Attorney with Kean Miller, LLC; Mrs. Sara Zimmerman, MLIS, Executive Director, LOUIS Library Consortium; Ms. Emily Frank, MLIS, LSU Emily Frank, MLIS, Instructional Technologies and Engineering Librarian at Louisiana State University, Mrs. Margaret Keller, MLIS, Library Director, Northshore Community College and Ms. Sherri Voebel, Administrative Dean of Library Services, Central Louisiana Technical Community College.
Sources:
Perry, M. J. (2012, December 24.) The college textbook bubble and how the open educational resources movement is going up against the textbook cartel [blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.aei-ideas.org/2012/12/the-college-textbook-bubble-and-how-the-open-educational-resources-movement-is-going-up-against-the-textbook-cartel/
College Board. (2013). Quick guide: college costs. Retrieved from https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/college-costs/quick-guide-college-costs
Emily Frank
Emily Frank is the Instructional Technologies and Engineering Librarian at Louisiana State University. In this role, she works to integrate technology into the Libraries’ research and instruction services, and supports the research needs of students and faculty from the College of Engineering. She leads the Libraries’ e-textbooks initiative that, to date, has offered over 230 classes free access to a required textbook through the Libraries’ e-book collection. She received her MLIS from the University of Kentucky and an International Master’s in Digital Library Learning from universities in Norway, Estonia, and Italy through a program funded by the European Union.
Margaret Keller
Margaret Keller began her tenure as Director of Library Services in January 2013 and was charged with starting the first academic library for Northshore Technical Community College (NTCC). The NTCC GATOR (Global Access to Online Resources) opened its doors in September of 2013 with the majority of its online resources offered through membership in LALINC (Louisiana Academic Library Information Network Consortium). Mrs. Keller earned her MLIS (Master of Library and Information Studies) at the University of Texas at Austin in 2006 and was the Head Librarian at Cathedral High School Vandenburg Library in El Paso, Texas, for several years. Mrs. Keller also worked with her husband in a real estate investment company and owned her own business as a grant writer. While in El Paso, she served on the Border Regional Library Association and the El Paso Public Library Association Boards and was a consultant for the Catholic Diocese of El Paso school libraries.
Mrs. Keller is a member of ALA, ACRL, and LLA, is involved with several LALINC Task Forces and Interest Groups and serves on the NTCC Leadership and Academic Affairs Committees. In fall 2013, she collaborated with an LSU School of Information faculty member and class on a LibGuides software project and presented the results of that collaboration at the LCTCS 2014 Annual Conference. She received the LCTCS Outstanding Professional Staff in 2014.
Mrs. Keller is dedicated to providing access to the best resources possible for NTCC’s students along with the necessary skills that will help its students become lifelong learners and make informed decisions as they face the challenges of the 21st century.
Russel Primeaux
Russel Primeaux is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller. He joined the firm in 1997 and leads the intellectual property (IP) practice, which includes trademark, patent, copyright and trade secrets. Russel is a Registered Patent Attorney and is licensed to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He represents clients in obtaining protection for the various forms of IP and in litigation involving infringement. Russel also has experience in the representation of clients in the licensing, sale or evaluation of IP.
Russel handles IP matters spanning a wide range of technologies, including biochemistry, business methods, chemical processes, computer printer designs, digital hardware designs, electronic devices, medical devices, microprocessor design, electric power transmission, gas chromatography, oil exploration, software, thermodynamics, and waste treatment. On numerous occasions, he has served as an expert witness in patent infringement litigation in cases involving both utility patents and design patents.
Russel teaches patent law at the LSU Law Center. He served on the Faculty of the LSU Law Center Trial Advocacy Program from 1995 to 1997. Russel served as Chairman of the Intellectual Property Section of the Louisiana State Bar from 1997 to 1998. He is also a former Marine artillery officer and Judge Advocate. Russel is listed in the The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward/White, Inc. 2003-2014 Editions) in the areas of Patent Law, Trademark Law, Litigation - Intellectual Property, and Litigation - Patent. Russel was named Baton Rouge Lawyer of the Year in Trademark Law for 2013 by Best Lawyers. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Greater Baton Rouge. Russel is also listed in the Who's Who Legal USA: Trademarks 2006.
Russel earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1981. He earned his J.D., cum laude, in 1987 from the University of San Diego where he was a member of the San Diego Law Review.
Sherri Voebel
Sherri is the Administrative Dean of Library Services at Central Louisiana Technical Community College (CLTCC) since November 2013. CLTCC Bobcat Library opened its doors in November 2013 with the majority of its resources offered online through membership in LALINC (Louisiana Academic Library Information Network Consortium) in cooperation with LOUIS. CLTCC Libraries has seven (7) Learning Resource Centers that include their main Library in Alexandria as well as Oakdale, Leesville, Avoyelles, Winnfield, Jena, Ferriday site locations. These libraries offer electronic resources available 24/7, reference books and inter-library loan. Ms. Voebel is dedicated to preparing our future workforce with the necessary research skills & computer knowledge to prepare them for the competitive job market.
Ms. Voebel graduated with an MLIS from LSU in August 1996 and earned her B.S. from Mary Hardin Baylor in 1976. Ms. Voebel has worked in magnet, academic, trade and corporate libraries and is active in both SLA and ALA. She served as a professional trainer for Questel and Delphion (IBM JV) providing search training to librarians, engineers, scientists and attorneys. Ms. Voebel architected web portals and integrated meta-data for retrieving scientific, legal and corporate documents. She has worked with data visualization tools for over 20 years and received notable mention for her contribution on data-mining projects such as Themescape (Batelle NW), and Anacubis (IBM/i2 Group). Prior to her life in Librarianship, she managed a Legal Services firm and worked as an Applications Engineer in analytical chemistry.
Sara G Zimmerman
Sara is the Executive Director of LOUIS: The Louisiana Library Network. She has worked for LOUIS for the past 22 years of her 31 year information and technology career at LSU. Her experience with LOUIS began as a programmer when LOUIS was established in 1992. She has been involved in all aspects of LOUIS as it grew from a small automation project to what it is today - a dynamic state-wide academic library consortium offering a multitude of services to 45+ members with a budget of over $4,000,000. She led the consortium through a budget crisis that began in 2010 by representing LOUIS to the LA Board of Regents, the Louisiana Legislature and various media outlets (paper, television and radio) and transitioning the funding model from majority state funded to majority member funding while maintaining and enhancing services. She implemented new initiatives including organizing the first Strategic Plan in 2012 from which a new business model has been developed, and a public relations/marketing campaign that resulted in an updated brochure and Participation Summary Reports for members. Her partnership with the Board of Regents has helped secure continued and increased funding. Her partnership with vendors has helped the consortium keep costs manageable while increasing services and resources. She has an AS in Computer Science from Southeastern Louisiana University, a BS in Computer Science from the University of Louisiana Lafayette and a Masters in Library and Information Science from Louisiana State University. She was awarded the 2005 Louisiana Library Association’s Outstanding Academic Librarian Award, was recognized in 2011 by the LALINC Executive Board for “Outstanding Leadership and Lasting Contribution in Support of Louisiana’s Academic Libraries”, and received the 2014 Linda Carlberg Award from Libraries Southwest.