Information and digital literacy in education via the digital path

The study by the Babson Survey Research Group, Freeing the Textbook: Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2018, was supported by a grant from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and is based on responses from more than 4,000 faculty and department chairs. The study shows improvements in OER awareness, and growing concern among faculty regarding the cost of course materials.

A recent report for the Society of College, National & University Libraries (Sconul) listed ‘students as customers’ as one of the five top ‘transformational’ trends that will impact libraries over the next ten years. These student consumers are not all happy and one reason is the rising cost of textbooks and the lack of availability from libraries. The briefing paper looks at the textbook market and the moves to digital and more interactive learning resources. It analyses new approaches to textbook publication including Open Textbooks and institutional initiatives and new ways libraries are delivering e-textbooks to students. It concludes with an analysis of the potential disruptive impact of new user focussed e-textbook platforms

This is the fourth Higher Education Library Technology briefing paper. HELibTech is a free and open community resource which aims to provide a starting point for anyone interested in library technology in Higher Education. This paper was supported by sponsorship from Bibliotech Education.The author retained full editorial control over the content of this paper and maintained an independent and impartial view of the issues.