June 4, 2009

6 Lessons One Campus Learned About E-Textbooks

6 Lessons One Campus Learned About E-Textbooks 1

Photographs by Daniel Johnson for The Chronicle

Kevin Green, a junior studying business management at Northwest Missouri State U., enjoyed using an e-book this spring in a marketing class, but said he would rather use paper books in number-heavy accounting courses.

By Jeffrey R. Young

Maryville, Mo.

Northwest Missouri State University nearly became the first public university to deliver all of its textbooks electronically. Last year the institution's tech-happy president, Dean L. Hubbard, bought a Kindle, Amazon's e-book reading device, and liked it so much that he wanted to give every incoming student one. The university already runs an unusual textbook-rental program that buys thousands of printed books for students who pay a flat, per-credit fee. Mr. Hubbard saw in the gadget a way to

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