What is the future of campus bookstores?
What will university and college campus bookstores look like in five (or ten) years?
At University of Manitoba, students will be arriving on campus in about a month. The start of a school year is not defined so much by increased traffic in the hallways as the incredibly long lines in the bookstore. When I was at Red River College, lines would run out the bookstore and several hundred meters down the hallway. Students would complain about having to wait 6+ hours to get their textbooks. Students without texts were significantly hampered – all courses required a text (that has changed somewhat as many courses now use at least some online resources). The pilgrimage to the bookstore was a necessity.
For many students, textbook costs form a large portion of their overall education expense. It’s not unusual to see a text priced at $200+. Publishers justify the high costs due to the input effort of peer review, additional online resources, and limited print runs. However, many content-centric aspects of society have been disrupted by technology: newspapers, music and movie industries, and peer review journals.
Are campus bookstores next?
The textbook publishing field is rapidly changing. Flat World Knowledge makes textbooks freely available online…and charges for physical copies. Their textbooks are open, which means: “Use our books “as-is” or utilize our open-source license and online tools to modify the book for your class. Go nuts. Turn our books into your books”.
Google has been rather busy digitizing books. Currently, university-level textbooks aren’t the main focus of this project, but that may change as a result of Google’s recent agreement with publishers and authors. Most university/college texts are small-run editions with a focused audience. This limited focus is exactly what makes this market so attractive to publishers like Pearson and Wiley. A specialized market, where existing publishers have formed relationships with faculty and bookstores, can prove to be a difficult competitive climate for new entrance.
How has Amazon impacted traditional campus bookstores? I’m not sure. The lineups at bookstores in fall suggest the impact has been minimal. Many specialized texts are not available at Amazon, and even when they are, learners may find a visit to the bookstore more practical (particular in terms of time for getting a book – recent purchases I’ve made through Amazon.ca have resulted in at minimum at three week wait).
Ebook readers – like Kindle and Sony Reader – may significantly impact campus bookstores. While Kindle is not yet available in Canada, Sony Reader may serve as an important textbook replacement tool. Imagine a learner with only a Reader in her backpack, rather than a stack of textbooks. Chiropractors may be disappointed, but the convenience of ebooks is a significant draw. The comfort curve for using ebook readers has been high for me. I like turning pages. I like highlighting and making notes in the margins. Yes, I can do this with an ebook reader, but it’s cumbersome.
Publishers are trying to increase their value-added resources with ready-made quizzes, powerpoint presentations for educators, and even digital chapters that educators can directly add into an LMS. Where does this leave the bookstore? Is it possible for publishers to completely by-pass bookstores and sell direct to faculty and learners?
Libraries as an example?
Libraries have been struggling to find relevance in today’s digital world. For the most part, they have succeed in reinventing themselves. Libraries are no longer about books. They are about information access. About research and literacy development. Add wireless and Starbucks, and suddenly you have a modern university library. The content of a library (books, journals, archives) has been augmented by the experience of a library (support, socialization, access, information literacy development).
Can bookstores undergo a similar transformation? At first glance, bookstores are more precarious than libraries in this regard. Libraries have always offered more than books. A learner often has a long term relationship with a campus library. I’m not sure that’s the case with bookstores. I visit U of M’s libraries far more frequently than I visit bookstores. I have periodic and specific needs of the bookstore (books, a computer, pens, paper).
Mainstream booksellers have made some transitions. McNally Robinson and Chapters offer comfortable reading spaces, restaurants, and coffee shops. The emphasis is again on the experience augmenting the content.
Where does this leave us?
Openness, digitization, and new formats (ebooks) are formidable change pressures impacting campus bookstores. Most bookstores already offer far more than books: clothing, computers, magazines, etc. Can these alternative revenue options replace potential revenue misplacement due to digital texts?
I certainly don’t have answers on this…and would appreciate comments or opinions in this regard. I’ll offer the following as possible future scenarios for bookstores:
- Bookstores continue to retain their on campus presence, but their product mix will shift from textbooks to technology.
- Bookstores reduce their campus presence, resulting in a more “boutique-like” venue. Sales are reduced as more learners purchase ebooks or use open/free online resources/texts.
- Bookstores disappear, as the impact of digital books and new reading devices (and publishers partner directly with ebook reader manufacturers, reducing reliance on bookstores as distributors).
What do you think? Do bookstores have a future on campuses? Or are they at the early stages of a long, slow, irreversible decline?
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Pingback by Future of campus bookstores - elearnspace — August 7, 2009 @ 10:43 am
This is a great topic, though I don’t see a clear answer, at least in a near future. I’ve always thought, like Prof. Manuel Castells said, that technologies do not have to substitute the old ones, but to complement the existing if these still have a function. I agree with you that e-books don’t give the same as paper printed books. What I believe is tha e-readers may be a clear replacement of traditional course books when bookstopres don’t do anything to avoid long lineups, where students have to wait hours to buy their books. In the 1990’s, UPS was clever in offering the opportunity to bookstores to ship books in 24 hours to students, to avoid the lines, but than, came the e-reader presenting a new threat. Now we have also these heavy backpacks that can be replaced by e-books.
IN Europe we can see the changes at the FNAC stores where most of the former music CDs shelves have been replaced by IT supply or electronic video an sound equipment. Could it happen something similar to on Campus Bookstores, where book shelves could be replaced by other products, or rather would they fisically disappear?
I don’t think that fisical Bookstores will dissaper at all. I’m sure that they will take advantage of new technologies in entering in to new shopping opportunities, where e-books make sense and can afford advantages to readers, though they will continue to have paper books and take advantage, as they do now, of customers, who buy also pens, and other office accessoires when they go in to the Bookstore.
I love to vsit Bookstores in Museums and in Campuses too. I would miss them if they disappeared.
Comment by Oriol Miralbell — August 7, 2009 @ 11:37 am
I have not bought a textbook at the university bookstore in 3 years. I purchased all my books through Amazon after the second day of lectures and in the most part they arrived in time for me to use them for the first assignment/paper.
Despite my lack of use for the campus bookstore, I have a hard time believing these types of facilities/services for students will go away anytime soon. These stores sell other products such as art supplies, campus merchandise, and computer equipment which will keep them in business for years to come.
However, despite the fact that I don’t see these stores disappearing, I do hope for some changes in the near future. Here is my ideal scenario:
1) Receive course syllabus by email 2 weeks in advance.
2) Press the link in the email that points to the campus bookstore’s website.
3) Add the book to my order.
4) Once I received course outlines, submit the order to the campus bookstore.
5) Receive an email when the books are available for pickup. Print the order information and use it with my student ID and the credit card used for the purchased to pick up my order.
Think about it! No more wondering around bumping in the crowded bookstore. Just form a line to pick up your pre-paid books!
Comment by Dario — September 21, 2009 @ 2:24 pm