Despite the ecological and economic benefits of e-Books, they have not been gathering enough momentum to infiltrate the academic system. As evidenced by the disappointing sales of e-Textbooks, many current college students who grew up on printed books have rejected the notion of electronic versions of school texts, much to the disappointment of E-textbook publishers.
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The benefits of these e-Textbooks include the ability to quickly search through large amounts of text, insert marginalia in electronic comment boxes and access hyperlinks. Yet the tactile quality of textbooks, something e-Books will never have, allows readers a certain intimacy with their academic material. It's a lot easier to curl up in bed with a textbook than it is to go to bed with a hunk of heated metal by your side.
It is evident from the limited success of e-Textbooks that students are comfortable with the current order of things: we prefer to have the option of choosing between printed textbooks and e-Textbooks. Though academia's current preferences may lean toward physical books, this preference may change with future generations. Nevertheless, it remains a vital part of our college education that students have access to their reading material in medium that they can engage with.
