E-Texbooks Gaining Popularity in the United States

In the U.S., textbook companies and universities are taking initiatives to cut their textbook expenses as well as their environmental impact. Statistics from an article from Epoch Times show that 65% of educators plan to phase out traditional textbooks and replace them with electronic textbooks in the very near future. California is the first state to attempt an all-electronic textbook initiative, which began in 2009.

Even publishers like Macmillan announced that it will publish their textbooks in an all-new electronic format, as well. The new format is called DynamicBooks, and it allows teachers and professors to customize the textbook for the purposes of their classes. They will also be available for download on Apple's iPad, which will launch on April 3rd, 2010.

From an environmental standpoint, 12 trees are cut down for one ton of paper for textbooks, and only 5% of paper is recycled. Economically, California expects to save $2 million for going electronic.

This news that California is leading the movement in transtioning to electronic textbooks is good news for The Global Text Project. Recently, the Red and Black reported that UGA is planning to incorporate DynamicBooks in Fall of 2010. While the movement is still happening in the U.S., the more accessible electronic textbooks are here, the easier it will be for the Global Text Project to provide textbooks absolutely free of cost to developing countries and to put our mission into action.

Some questions for our readers:

How would using an electronic textbook be different from a traditional textbook for you? What advantages and disadvantages would you predict to find? Further, do any of you already use an e-Book reader, and which kind?