Page 2-The Michigan Daily- Friday, September 7,1990
Customized
textbooks
may be in near future *
ANTHONY M. CROLL
Don't tread on me
A student, choosing not to believe popular University superstition, nonchalantly treds on the 'M' on the way to
class yesterday.
- .- - - St --' -
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WASHINGTON (CPS) - Like
most collegians, American Univer-
sity junior Barbara Langdon spent
about $300 for textbooks last term.
And like most, she hardly remem-
bers the books, using only a chapter
or two from each.
"It's a waste because you are not
using all of what you are paying
for," Langdon says.
But if the speakers at a recent
conference about the future of col-
lege bookstores are right, relief may
be in sight for Langdon and the na-
tion's other 12 million collegians.
The age of on-demand, custom
textbooks is about to arrive, speak-
ers at the Collegiate Retailing Sym-
posium here predicted.
Publishers, they said, will soon
allow professors - and possibly
even students - to pick and choose
chapters and sections from different
authors and then, by using a com-
puter, compile them into one text-
book assembled specifically for one
class section.
Students will thus have to buy a
third fewer books than they do now,
the speakers said, but they may not
be saving any money, because the
"custom textbooks" will probably
prove more expensive to produce
than the mass models students cur-
rently lug around campus.
McGraw-Hill, the second-largest
college text publisher, unveiled the
idea last November. McGraw-Hill
chairman Joseph Dionne declared
that "textbooks will never be the
same again."
At the time, bookstore managers
were not too thrilled about the logis-
tics of trying to stock a special text-
book for every course offered at a
school.
Apparently, they have now
warmed to the idea.
"As I see it, there is a lot of
promise in this in terms of products
being more focused on classes or in-
dividuals," said William Simpson of
the University of Connecticut Co-op
at the symposium.
"The other plus is the hope of
lower costs, or at least the diminish-
ing of the upper spiral of costs."
The first customized books will
II =1
'(Textbooks are) a waste because you are
not using all of what you are paying for'
-Barbara Langdon
American U. Junior
appear this fall. Professors can have
McGraw-Hill assemble bits and
pieces from the supplements to one
book - "Accounting: The Basics
for Business Decisions" - into a
text that fits their lesson plans ex-
actly.
But before the decade ends, stu-
dents will find course materials
changed even more radically, said
some of the 130 campus bookstore
managers who attended the National
Association of College Stores sym-
posium, held July 22-24 at the
Washington Hilton.
CAPT VOLKER GAUL
747-4093
For example, students will see
much of their course work shift from
workbooks and texts to computer
programs.
"There are so many new things
out there now and there are so many
things that are visionary or are in an-
ticipation," said Pamela Mills of the
University of Colorado bookstore.
"Most of it has to do with the tech-
nology coming out."
Mills foresees smaller, faster and
cheaper computers and software. Be-
cause they will be so central to go-
ing to class, she added, students will
have no option but to invest in a
computer when they enter school.
Psc
Continued from page 1
sions on the tour are scheduled for
September. The PSC is also plan-
ning presentations in the residence
halls.
"The cost of MSA sending stu-
dents comes out to 1.5 cents per stu-
dent for each delegate," said Levine.
"I think people will find they got
their two cents worth."
A major goal of the mission was
"to meet with students, faculty and
BUSH
Continued from page 1
Naji al-Hadithi, director general
of Iraq's Information Ministry, said
in Baghdad that an Iraqi television
crew was ready to go to Washington
to interview Bush for a broadcast on
state-run television.
"Although we have not heard
from Iraq directly, we accept their of-
fer of a broadcast to the Iraqi people.
The president will tape a message to
the Iraqi people in the next few days
which will be provided to the Iraqi
information minister," Fitzwater told
reporters accompanying Bush on Air
Force One.
Bush has said he wished he could
have the media access in Iraq that
Saddam has had on U.S. television.
The Iraqi president's statements and
appearances have been broadcast
widely, many of them on live and
unedited CNN reports.
"The president has a very distinct
Other speakers hoped the initial
cost of the computers would be off-
set by charging students less for the
custom texts they can assemble with
their machines.
In fact, the new wonder machines
may eliminate paper books from
campus libraries altogether, said
Cornell University's Stuart Lynn,
the conference's keynote speaker.
Lynn predicted schools will soon
start buying books in coded, digital
form that can be stored in giant,
computers and pulled up for use,
piecemeal.
When a student needs some in-
formation, the library will scan its
data bases, and print out the pages
the student can use.
Bookstores themselves generally
will become centers for copyright
licensing, a place to make sure all
the book and magazine authors rep-
resented in the new mix-and-match-
texts get their royalties Lynn said.
"I view ourselves as being in the
student service business," said Con-
necticut's Simpson. "Right now that
need is textbooks but that will-
change. We need to keep ourselves
focus on why the hell we are there@
and that is to serve the students."
administrative officials at Birziet
university in order to discuss poten-
tial projects and strengthen MSA
sister-university ties," said Levine. .
He said joint University projects
with Birzeit could include student'
and faculty exchanges and raising
money for a scholarship fund estab-
lished by the Birzeit student council.'
Birzeit is located 12 miles north =
of Jerusalem in the West Bank. It
was closed by the Israeli-government'
in December 1987, according to the
newsletter.
message that he wants to give to the
people of Iraq about our purpose fo
being in the gulf. He thinks this is d
good opportunity," Fitzwater said.
On a separate matter, Fitzwater
said that there is no new economic'
package for the Soviet Union in the
offing, although the Sunday summit
meeting in Helsinki will offer a
chance to talk about "technical assis-
tance."
He had said on Wednesday that
because of Soviet cooperation in the:.
United Nations-led sanctions against
Iraq, Bush was willing to look anew
at potential financial aid for the ail-,
ing Soviet economy.
Fitzwater noted Commerce Secre-
tary Robert Mosbacher was leading a
team of American business execu-
tives to Moscow to discuss invest-
ment opportunities. They will stop
in Helsinki during the summit.
Fitzwater said Bush has not yet
decided whether to attend the Oct. 3 .
Berlin ceremony celebrating Ger-
many's reunification.
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