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The deans said they sent the e-mail this year because of concern over the growing cost of textbooks, as well as to remind faculty that more written material is available on line and licensable for institutional use....
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<p>The heavy cost of books and course materials can and do strain a student's budget and even financial aid offices. A switch to online materials can save thousands of dollars but consumer preferences also come into play here - despite high costs, many students do prefer and want coursepacks and sourcebooks. The fact that e-books and articles etc. can be easily copied is part of the solution - and one that doesn't necessarily toll a death knell for the coursepack or even mean that students would have to print out everything themselves. Coursepacks and sourcebooks can be compiled and copied from materials available for free to Harvard undergraduates - and I assume the same logic might indeed hold for other HEIs - so the cost of the packs can be greatly reduced when the University itself holds the copyright. If the demand for a switch to cheaper texts and use of online resources is great enough, more deans, profs and instructors will clamor for an administrative solution because all too often they just don't have the time or extra staff to compile the materials efficiently.</p>