ETextbook, a new iPhone application, allows users to access textbooks from many major publishers

  and could change the way university students study ( Photo: Christopher King )   

University students may be heading back to school with fewer books in their bags this September.

Digital textbooks, now available for iPhones, mean that students have a new option to choose from when purchasing school books.

The free iPhone application for eTextbooks became available online from CourseSmart LLC on August 9. Once users have downloaded the application they can begin purchasing books from the CourseSmart website.

The eTextbooks contain all of the same material as print textbooks and have a similar look. Students also have the option of printing pages if necessary.

According to the CourseSmart website, the company has more than 7,000 digital titles available, which ensures that most students will be able to find at least one of their assigned textbooks as an eTextbook.

Executive vice-president of CourseSmart Frank Lyman, said digital textbook adoption is expected to increase with the launch of the iPhone application. He argued students are becoming more aware of the added value of digital efficiencies and cost savings they receive from purchasing eTextbooks.

“CourseSmart’s sales are up 600 per cent versus last year and students at over 5,900 institutions have purchased an eTextbook from CourseSmart,” he said.

Among the benefits of purchasing eTextbooks, Lyman also noted students who purchase eTextbooks can save an average of 50 per cent off of print textbooks costs and eliminate the mystery of buyback at the end of the semester.

He pointed to a positive reaction to digital textbooks from post-secondary institutions and professors.

“Similar to the students they teach, faculty members are also saving themselves the unnecessary backache caused by lugging a stack of textbooks around all day,” Lyman said.

Not everyone is ready to trade in their print textbooks for a digital version, though. Dan McFarlane, a PhD student at the University of Ottawa and an iPhone owner, isn’t sold on the idea quite yet.

“I would prefer to read a physical book rather than on an iPhone,” McFarlane said. “Most of my reading in a textbook is done out of the classroom anyways, when portability isn’t that much of an issue.”