New From JISC: “Briefing for Library Directors: Publishers and the Textbook Market in the Higher Education Sector”

From the Executive Summary of the Brief:

This briefing paper created by the Jisc Learning Content Group provides an overview of the current e-textbook licensing landscape within higher education institutions. It outlines current practices and their impact on the library  and suggests ways in which the sector can exert influence on publishers to change their pricing and access models.

Providing students with online-only access to key learning content has been a key priority during the pandemic and  has brought the drawbacks and frustrations with licensing e-textbook content into sharp relief.

Access to content has moved from the traditional library supply model where limited print copies are purchased by  the library in perpetuity supplemented by student purchase, to annual leasing of “premium” content, which provides  each student in a cohort with their own personal copy of a textbook. The models and fees charged by commercial publishers have become prohibitively expensive and unsustainable for libraries and paradoxically as a result of the shift to online, students risk having less access and choice.

Direct to Full Text Brief
8 pages; PDF.

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