Hilbert students have one or more classes each semester that require the purchase of course materials, whether it is digital or paperback copies. The Scribe sat down with the manager of the Hilbert bookstore Bill Herne to talk about the cost of text books and the shift to digital materials.

The Scribe:  According to professors’ class curriculum, which formats of books do the professors ask the Hilbert bookstore to stock preferably?

Bill Herne:  Twenty years ago, we thought digital books were going to replace paper books. But that did not happen. There were even some schools that would give students iPads when the students enroll at their college and the Professors would have the student’s course curriculum already downloaded on the iPad for the student. But you also have some professors that don’t want no electronic devices in in class, if the professor tells me that then I write down for that class “No Electronic device In class” which means that student will have to buy a paper copy of that teachers curriculum.      

TS: Which of the Formats costs the most to Purchase eBooks or paper back?

BH: That depends on the publisher, because with some publishers their ebooks cost less than their paper copies. For example, you have one publisher’s paperback book band new that is $195.00, and the ebook that is $199.00. But this publisher’s paperback book brand new is $286.25 and the ebook is $32.99. Most Publishers ebook formats are less expensive than the Paper book format. But there are a lot of students that buy the paperback book anyways because the it is hard to toggle between screen with ebooks.