University Presses Have To Adapt

University press publishers gather to talk about their business. Like all publishers, the university presses are having to reinvent their business. This spring the presses were hit with a glut of textbook returns. It seems students are getting more saavy about used textbooks. One expert warned that “today’s students, tomorrow’s faculty have grown up with technology. This Net Generation’s expectations are defined by Google, Amazon.com, and eBay. They expect everything to be online and everything to be free. They have become a visual culture. They’re moving away from text.”