The Kids Are Alright

Much is being made of this new survey conducted by Publisher's Weekly, which reveals that 74% of students surveyed prefer print textbooks over ebooks.  Even with flashy iPad apps like Theodore Gray's The Elements at their fingertips, good old pulp and binding is still the most comfortable way to learn.

I have to say I'm not surprised.  Even though my own library gives us the option of accessing our materials as ebooks from anywhere on- or off-campus, I found my own exploitation of this feature short-lived.  Last week I broke down and paid real pounds for a heap of books, knowing the money was better spent in the long run on hard copies rather than the antacids I would need when I discovered none of my hours of reading had sunk in.  There's only so many times you can switch between your textbook and facebook before your studies start to suffer.

Now, I do realize that this slightly contradicts what I said earlier about the iPad.  Funny what being a student will do.  I will, say, however, that publishers seem a lot more comfortable producing a hybrid model, where materials are available both online and in print form.  Some people are going to learn better from the computer -- think of all those young kids who grew up reading from a screen -- and some people will want paper.  There really is no reason not to service them both.  If done correctly, the result will be a bottom line of more readers, and how can a publisher argue with that?