Why Digital is Gaining on Print

“I feel like the captain of the Titanic, trying desperately to avoid icebergs,” commented Bob Butterfield, director of instructional resources at the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

In his CAMEX22 presentation, Walking the Line: OER, IA, Digital, and the Impact on College Stores, he acknowledged the difficulty in keeping up with the changes in course materials over the past decade. His institution made the decision to put the focus on digital for a number of reasons, he said, including the decline of print, growth of digital formats, publisher strategies, and what was happening in the K-12 market.

“Is print dead? Not quite yet, but there are signs its health is flagging,” Butterfield said.

Like many campus bookstores, UW-Stout was seeing fewer sales of new textbooks. Free materials have grown as much as 30%. More materials are produced first in digital format, with no print option or only a PDF.

“In trying to source books, it’s been harder to get print,” he noted.

Many schools shifted to digital materials when the pandemic hit, as an efficient way to get course content to students who were forced to go remote. Butterfield thinks the shift may be long-term for a lot of institutions.

Publishers are now seeing more profit with digital materials. “They would tell you their initial rollout with digital was not successful,” Butterfield pointed out. But the old PDFs have been replaced by interactive content created for digital, with additional services available, such as online tutoring.

K-12 schools are transitioning to digital content. As a result, students are using fewer print books as they come up through grade school and they don’t expect to use print when they reach college, he said.

“Students are coming to us when print is assigned and asking us for digital, saying, ‘I can’t deal with this any more,’” he said.

As more courses require digital materials or move to an inclusive access program, some campus stores have decided to step away from their role with course resources. That worries Butterfield.

“We do have a need to continue to engage in course materials,” he said. “It’s good to be a valued community member, but it’s much better to be an essential part of the success of your campus.”

He noted that OnCampus Research’s Faculty Watch survey data shows more professors are at ease with digital materials, and they’ll be more likely to adopt those in the future. “No one speaks faculty like faculty,” he said. “As they see more and more of these products, they will encourage their peers to become more comfortable.”

In addition to remote learning, inclusive access programs have led the way to digital materials. UW-Stout is a “big user” of IA, he said, but “our IA programs are both friend and foe for college stores.” He believes students do save money with IA, but some programs cut stores out of the loop or require extra reporting that doesn’t benefit the store. Opt-in/out procedures can be cumbersome for both students and stores, and faculty may have limited choices once a school decides to go with IA.

Still, he sees institutions sticking with IA as long as costs are reduced for students—or until something new comes along.

Open educational resources (OER) might be that thing.

“I am an OER advocate,” Butterfield said. “I put a lot of time and resources into OER.”

He thinks OER will continue to grow, especially with legislative support and funding for creation of materials, although it’s likely to plateau after a number of years. If funding declines, so will enthusiasm for this model.

“Why should your store have anything to do with OER?” he asked. “I think there’s a positive side. I truly think this is an area where stores and campus groups can come together. Your expertise in the store can really help OER groups on your campus to make these programs sustainable.”

Butterfield recommended several strategies that have been effective for UW-Stout in approaching digital:

• Know the issues.
• Be realistic about what you can influence.
• Understand that national problems are not always local problems; take a campus-centric approach.
• Tailor your message; as you work with different groups, remember they all take in input in different ways.
• Learn different “languages” for library, faculty, students, and others to communicate with them.
• Find opportunity in adversity.
• Consider who you’re hiring; be sure to get the skills you need.
• Be involved. Volunteer for campus task forces and committees, make your store known to as many stakeholders as possible, and be active in professional organizations.