When I walk to Carleton from Prince of Wales Drive, I constantly complain about the weight of my textbooks pulling on my shoulders.

But with the current rise in hand-held “smart” devices, such as e-readers, smart phones and the iPad, publishers are following suit and turning textbooks digital – and weightless.

In 2010, $57 million (US$54 million) was spent on electronic textbooks in the U.S. The amount is expected to increase to $ 1.7 billion (US$1.1 billion) by 2014, according to a study done by American textbook distributer MBS Exchange.

Since e-textbooks can cost about half the price of their printed counterparts, students can go digital for a wallet-friendly alternative.

Some schools are going above and beyond this current trend.

Beginning in fall 2010, Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pa, will provide a MacBook and an iPad to incoming freshmen students.

Seton Hill has invested more than $1.7 million (US$1.5 million) in a new technology infrastructure.

Students will pay a technology fee of $535 (US$500) a semester for their high-tech learning.  

“We have something tangible as a result of our technology fee. We will have a MacBook. We will have an iPad. We will have Wi-Fi. Seton Hill is so progressive and this is a wonderful opportunity,” said Katie Fritsch, a third-year graphic design student.   

Students will be able to download many of their textbooks from Apple’s iBook service.

To date, four major textbook publishers have signed agreements with the online store.

For the rest of their books, students can turn to third party companies, such as CourseSmart, an online retailer with a catalogue of over 10,000 different e-textbooks.

“We believe Apple’s iPad will further boost demand for digital textbooks as it will capture the imagination of the next group of students who haven’t yet tried e-textbooks,” said Gabrielle Zucker, a spokesperson for CourseSmart.

Zucker said that by 2012, digital versions of textbooks could account for as much as 15 per cent of total textbook sales, up from less than 3 per cent today, according to data from members of the National Association of College Stores.

Zucker also said students could save an average of 50 per cent by purchasing e-textbooks as opposed to traditional ones.

Even with the development of CourseSmart, Haven Books is still a popular source for textbooks for Carleton students.


Store manager Katie Roufe said although the electronic option could be a potential threat, she has not seen the effects yet at Carleton.

 "There is potential for the sales of e-textbooks to affect our business,” she said.


Roufe said she does see the appeal of the lower priced electronic textbooks, because “students have always lived on a budget.”


She said she believes the advantage of buying used books is that you can sell them back and recoup some of the cost.


This is something she said, you couldn’t get from an e-book, even if the original fee may be cheaper.