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State bills attempt to curb rising textbook prices
Issue date: 2/7/08
The bill would allow faculty to select a textbook for a course, only if at least 50 percent of the material in the textbook would be used in the course. Additionally, faculty must allow students to use older editions of a textbook as long as less than 30 percent of the new edition is new or changed content.
"There are so many books with so little change. Economically and ecologically, it's mad," Gudger said. "The faculty must be aware of what has changed from edition to edition before assigning textbooks."
Richard Hershman, director of government relations for the National Association of College Stores, said this aspect of the bill would place tremendous burden on the faculties and staffs at universities.
"Finding all of the changes from one edition to the next will be incredibly labor-intensive," Hershman said. "It cannot be done by the bookstores, either. College bookstore staffs are not experts in content. That information has to come from the publishers."
Neumann explained this policy would look at changes between editions quantitatively, rather than qualitatively.
"Requiring that a certain percentage of new or changed content justify the use of a new edition is not effective. It should be up to the faculty to choose editions," she said.
"We want to develop and implement processes to make faculty aware of the textbook costs problem," Grudger said. "We're aiming at the faculty, and having the effects trickle downward."
The College Textbook Competition and Affordability Act is awaiting a bill number.
The Textbook Fairness Act, sponsored by Sen. Katherine Klausmeier and Del. Marvin Holmes, will focus on campus bookstores in addition to faculty. The bill, which is waiting for a hearing date, would require university booksellers to post ISBNs, unique codes that identify books, on the internet as soon as faculty members have adopted a book for their course. Doing so would clarify what books have been assigned for each course, and would allow students to compare when book shopping, according to Klausmeier.
"There are so many books with so little change. Economically and ecologically, it's mad," Gudger said. "The faculty must be aware of what has changed from edition to edition before assigning textbooks."
Richard Hershman, director of government relations for the National Association of College Stores, said this aspect of the bill would place tremendous burden on the faculties and staffs at universities.
"Finding all of the changes from one edition to the next will be incredibly labor-intensive," Hershman said. "It cannot be done by the bookstores, either. College bookstore staffs are not experts in content. That information has to come from the publishers."
Neumann explained this policy would look at changes between editions quantitatively, rather than qualitatively.
"Requiring that a certain percentage of new or changed content justify the use of a new edition is not effective. It should be up to the faculty to choose editions," she said.
"We want to develop and implement processes to make faculty aware of the textbook costs problem," Grudger said. "We're aiming at the faculty, and having the effects trickle downward."
The College Textbook Competition and Affordability Act is awaiting a bill number.
The Textbook Fairness Act, sponsored by Sen. Katherine Klausmeier and Del. Marvin Holmes, will focus on campus bookstores in addition to faculty. The bill, which is waiting for a hearing date, would require university booksellers to post ISBNs, unique codes that identify books, on the internet as soon as faculty members have adopted a book for their course. Doing so would clarify what books have been assigned for each course, and would allow students to compare when book shopping, according to Klausmeier.
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Vegetarian
posted 2/09/08 @ 10:19 PM EST
The cost of textbooks has become a huge burden on students due to the greed of the publishers. Exempting it from sales tax is a good start. I hope they take the time to design a comprhensive bill that will help this situation. (Continued…)
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