Sixty five dollars. $12. $18. $37. $60. $32. These dollar amounts represent the cost of my used books this semester. Tack on an additional 50 percent or more if I bought my books new. 

Most students at UGA and other colleges will experience similar costs for books each semester, and they can easily spend several thousand dollars over their college career.

I really wonder why these books are so expensive, considering most of the information they provide is on Wikipedia. 

I understand the cost of printing and distribution, publishing fees and royalties to the writers, but couldn’t many of these costs be eliminated by switching to digital formats? I, for one, don’t want these costs passed on to me. 

With these considerations in mind, it’s strange that textbook authors have not yet converted to electronic format. Consider how much an e-book reader and digital textbooks would cost versus purchasing full physical textbooks over four years. 

An e-book reader costs approximately $300 today, would only have to be purchased once, could be used for other books, and is becoming less expensive as the technology develops. Out of the approximately $200 to $300 dollars it costs to produce your textbooks in a semester, nearly 75 percent of that cost (printing/distribution) could be eliminated by converting to a digital format. 

As an example, the price breakout for my history reading packet at Bel-Jean is as follows: 

Royalties: $15.81

Packet: $40.23

Tax: $3.92 

The $40.23 that Bel-Jean charges to bind, print, store and sell the packet could easily be reduced to $4 – $5 by going digital. It would be less expensive for students and the authors would still receive their due royalties. 

Not that I don’t like the friendly folks at Bel-Jean, but their business model will soon be obsolete.

Going digital not only has the effect of reducing costs to students, but is also much more convenient. Consider the weight of the books in a book bag, constantly having to make trips to the bookstore, the time it takes to sell your books back, the clutter of books in your room, etc. 

These time-consuming activities could be eliminated by having a single e-book reader that contains all 60-70 books you would need for an undergraduate degree program. 

UGA has already taken some steps to provide paperless texts, such as the inclusion of e-books in the library archives (NetLibrary on Galileo) and the move to eLearning Commons, which allows students to read digital articles and excerpts from full length books. 

Considering the recent cuts to UGA’s budget, I would think the school would jump at further opportunities to go digital, which in turn would make tuition more affordable to students.

More and more students are getting used to holding laptops, smartphones and MP3 players. The e-book will soon replace paper as a medium for textbooks, just like the MP3 has replaced physical mediums for music. 

What can the everyday student do to make this happen? First on the list is to encourage your professors to make a digital textbook available for the class. Try to turn in your assignments digitally if possible. 

When doing a research paper or searching for references, opt for e-book sources and digital articles. If you are a bit more enthusiastic, write a letter to your department head or dean asking him or her to make digital formats available. 

If all goes well, hopefully the UGA administration will issue a mandate which states that all students must have the right to purchase their books digitally.

— Jason Orlosky is a senior from Augusta majoring in Japanese