As the price of textbooks continues to rise, several colleges and universities are beginning to make entire texts and videos available to students over the Internet.
Cornell University recently implemented the Internet-First Publishing Project, an experimental measure designed to allow the online publication of academic works in lieu of the traditional print method.
"We are trying to create an alternative way of scholarly publishing ... . In the past, we have created content and have had to buy back excess," said James Robert Cooke, a Cornell professor of Biological and Environmental Engineering and principal investigator for the project.
Internet-First Publishing puts scholarly works directly into an online-viewable format.
If readers like what they see, they can print it out or pay a fee to order an "official version with high-quality printing [that is] perfectly bound," Cooke said.
For Penn students looking to explore texts online, there is the Digital Library Project.
According to Carton Rogers, interim vice provost and director of libraries at Penn, "At this time, there are 772 books you can print out or order online from the publishers at a discounted rate."
Rogers said that the online texts were obtained from "a very expensive relationship with Oxford and Cambridge to provide digital versions of their history books."
While most of the online books are not oriented for specific courses at Penn, the size and breadth of the collection is extensive.
"We just purchased the entire online version of the 18th century," Rogers said. "That's everything that has been published between 1700 and 1799 in literature."
Some digital texts, called "value-added" books, contain hyperlinks that students can click on to access additional information.
Online "e-books," as they are called, represent a strong trend in communication advancements.
Bill Steele, a reporter with the Cornell News Service, sees projects involving online books as the next wave of publishing technology.
"This is, I believe, the future direction of publishing. ... Someday, big chains such as Barnes & Noble may move in this direction," he said.
"This way, you can publish something that hasn't been on the shelves for years, and you can have it printed, bound and sent out."
Steele added that the Internet-First Project is "not a profit organization ... . It's a project, an experiment."
For Penn, the Digital Library Project is an expensive endeavor.
"We're spending a lot of money," Rogers said.
While some of the online book collections are open to anyone who visits the Penn Library Web site, others are specifically for the Penn community.
At this point, there are no immediate plans to put Penn course books online, but "there is ongoing conversation between faculty and library staff."
