March
9, 2004
Top Medical And
Scientific Societies Commit To Providing Free Access To Medical And
Scientific Research
The Washington DC
Principles for Free Access to Science increases access to new research
findings, while maintaining high standards for responsible scientific
publishing.
Click
here to see full press release.
Related Info:
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New Features
Added To Primis Online
McGraw-Hill Primis
Online users can now add their own documents directly within the finished
Primis Custom text and send the completed text to Primis Online's eBookstore,
where students can purchase and download the custom texts as eBooks.
The new Local Content Upload feature, implemented by Fallon Consultants,
Inc., and created by McGraw-Hill/Primis Custom Publishing, will allow
users to upload documents in over two hundred popular file formats,
which are automatically converted to the format used by Primis Online.
For more information, visit http://www.mhhe.com/primis/online
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Multidisciplinary
Journal Showcases Undergrad Research
The University of
Michigan announced the creation of a student-run undergraduate research
journal. Undergraduate Research Forum will be a multidisciplinary journal
that will include student-written articles on various topics in various
fields. It is being financed through sponsorships by the Office for
the Vice President of Research, Women in Science and Engineering and
others. To view a copy of the first issue of the journal, visit http://www.umich.edu/~umforum
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TAA Elects New
Council Officers
Since the TAA Nomination
Committee received only one nomination for each open council position,
it has declared the nominated candidates elected by acclamation. The
following will assume office effective July 1, 2004: John Wakefield,
Vice President/President Elect; Robert Christopherson, Treasurer; Steve
Gillen, Council Member; Jim Prekeges, Council Member.
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Texty, McGuffey
Award Winners Announced
Six Textbook Excellence
Awards (Textys) and four McGuffey Longevity Awards were awarded by the
Text and Academic Authors Association in the college and elementary-high
school level fields of physical sciences; communications/education/performing
arts/visual arts; mathematics statistics; computer science/engineering;
and life sciences. The awards will be presented at the annual TAA awards
banquet April 3 in St. Petersburg, Florida. Each author, including co-authors,
and the book's editor or publisher, will receive a plaque. TAA thanks
the judges for volunteering their time to judge the entries. To view
the list of winners, click here.
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TAA Hires New
Ad Manager
TAA hired Aaron
Gregerson as advertising manager for The Academic Author. If
you would like to place an ad in the next issue of The Academic Author,
please contact Aaron at Aaron Gregerson, 626 W. King Street, Winona,
MN 55987, Phone: (507) 452-2029, E-mail: AMGreger5431@webmail.winona.edu
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Sharing a Love
of Language: Author Veronica Anover
By Erika Ayn
Finch - For the North County Times
SAN MARCOS - When
Veronica Anover talks about teaching French at Cal State San Marcos,
her face lights up. What most excites her, she says, is interacting
with her students and watching them learn her native language.
Now she has taken
her love for teaching and language and is incorporating it into a new
French textbook. Anover said she decided to undertake the huge project
of writing a college textbook when she realized the subject matter she
wanted to teach could not be found in current books.
"The textbooks do
not reflect the student's needs and interests," Anover said. "Students
need to be able to relate to the topics and the vocabulary. If their
interests are present they will participate in the text."
Anover has taught
French and Spanish at Cal State San Marcos for five years. Prior to
moving to San Diego, she taught at Florida State University and Oregon
State University. She previously co-authored a Spanish lab manual and
has contributed to literature journals. This will be her first French
textbook.
Anover, a native
of France, has lived in the United States for 14 years. She is co-authoring
the text with an author who comes from the United States but speaks
French fluently. She said native speakers and non-native speakers are
often paired to write textbooks to "complement and balance each other."
The textbook has
been a work in progress for two years but Anover said it would be finished
"soon." She said she interviewed students and asked them what they wanted
to learn about in the text. Many students said they take French because
they want to go to France, Anover found.
So she has designed
the textbook to discuss France and French culture from a student's perspective.
"Students want to
learn about French cooking but the textbooks talk about foods like lobster,"
Anover said. "What student eats lobster when they go to France? It's
unrealistic. We need to discuss food in a more realistic light.
"When I ask my students
what they ate when they visited France they usually say McDonald's because
that is what they can afford."
Anover also did
research by watching French television, reading magazines, interviewing
friends who live in France and by traveling to the country. She said
she stayed in touch with French pop culture so the books can teach students
something as simple and as relevant as asking, "where is my cell phone?"
Anover has also
incorporated some of her students into the books. She said she constantly
learns from her students. "I love being so close to the future," she
said.
Rita Griffiths has
taken four classes with Anover at Cal State San Marcos and said she
has never had a professor quite like her. "She always makes me feel
so special," said Griffiths, a graduate student studying sociology.
"She is somebody that you have respect for and it's amazing that she
also has respect for you. She's exuberant and she loves the subject
matter. Students learning a language are often fearful but she made
it fun."
Anover plans on
using her textbook in her own classes. She said she thinks the book
will get students more involved in the class because they'll be interested
in the subject matter. "I love reinventing my teaching techniques with
my changing interests and motivations," Anover said. "I am never stagnating.
This text reflects the changing needs of our students."
This article
was reprinted with permission of the North County Times.
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Join CCC In Free
Conference Call With Leading Academic Publisher
Copyright Clearance
Center's Director of Author and Creator Relations, Christopher Kenneally,
invites TAA members to join him for a free conference call interview
with Kathleen Mickey, managing editor for Simba Information, recognized
as the leading authority for market intelligence and forecasts in the
media industry. Mickey, who works for the company's education division,
is one of the country's leading experts in academic and textbook publishing.
Mickey will discuss
the latest news and trends affecting the academic publishing industry
with the purpose of helping academic authors create opportunities and
find the best publishing home for their works. Other topics: size and
structure of the college publishing industry; the "Big 8" textbook publishers;
best-selling titles; influences on market growth.
To register, send
an email including your full name and e-mail address to BeyondTheBook@copyright.com
or call CCC at (800) 982-3887 ext. 2420. You will receive a reply email
with your registration confirmation and instructions on dialing in to
CCC's toll-free conference call interview.
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From
The Academic Author:
President's Message: Bookstores' Pricing Hurts Authors
I want to thank
the many members of TAA who responded to my last article on Instructor's
Editions being sold to students. Many of you pointed out, correctly,
that Amazon and other website vendors are not the only ones engaged
in this practice; college bookstores also routinely sell Instructor's
Editions as used (and sometimes as new) books. The effect of these practices
on the price of textbooks was also noted by many respondents.
In this President's
Message, I want to explore with you the pricing of textbooks at college
and university bookstores. Twenty years ago, the landscape of publishing
and selling textbooks changed dramatically. Prior to this time, most
college bookstores were operated by the college or university or were
privately owned and operated. Barnes & Noble and Follett's were mostly
trade stores, dealing with non-fiction trade books and novels. Publishers
set list prices for their books and sold them at a 20 percent discount
to bookstores. Bookstores ordered a sufficient (enough to handle projected
enrollments) number of new books from the publisher, marked up the price
they paid 25 percent (to bring the price back to the publisher's list
price) and sold them to students. Any used books on the shelf were there
because of student buy-backs from that school, and these were offered
to students at buy-back price plus 25 percent. Unsold copies could be
returned to the publisher for full credit. The price students paid for
their books was fair and reasonable, the publisher had a workable system
of distribution for their books, bookstores made a reasonable profit
for the university, and authors received fair compensation for their
development of intellectual property.
This has changed
dramatically in the last 20 years. Today, the vast majority of college
bookstores are operated by Barnes & Noble or Follett's. Missouri Books'
and Nebraska Books' freelancers sneak around campus with carts in hand
and cash in pocket engaging in the sleezy practice of offering cash
to professors for clearing their shelves of books. And what has happened
to textbook prices? Well, the publisher now sets a net price at which
they sell textbooks to the bookstore. But the net price the publisher
sets today is equivalent to the discounted price they charged bookstores
in the past. However, bookstores today mark up the price they pay the
publisher by 35 percent (remember, it used to be 25 percent), and they
order the books first from the used book vendors and mark up that price
by 50 percent or more.
Who are the winners
in this new pricing structure? Bookstores, universities and used book
dealers. Bookstores' margins are higher due to the 35 percent markup
on new books and 50 percent markup on use books so they are getting
more. Universities receive 15 to 20 percent of the bookstore revenue
for the exclusive right to operate the bookstore. Used book dealers
buy books from professors for very little, sell them to bookstores at
a much higher price, and the bookstore marks that price up 50 percent
or more for the student.
Who are the losers?
Students, publishers and authors. Students used to pay net plus 25 percent
for a new book and the buy-back price plus 25 percent for a used book.
Now they pay net plus 35 percent for a new book and buy-back plus 75
percent for a used book. It is not uncommon for adoptions of several
hundred textbooks to result in no revenue to the publisher and no royalties
to the author.
Are there solutions?
Possibly. Publishers could cut back on the number of "complementary
copies" they routinely send out to professors. Or better, publishers
should retain ownership of these copies so they cannot be legally sold.
Stamp something like "This book is the property of XYZ Publisher and
may not be sold without the express written permission of the publisher.
You may retain this book as long as you please. If you wish, it may
be returned in the enclosed postage-free mailer." Now we know the cover
might get ripped off and the book sold anyway, so let's place electronic
markers in it so we can track its progress through the selling chain.
Publishers could
also go back to list pricing and offer an alternative web-based distribution
system for their product at prices to the student that are lower than
currently available through bookstores.
Universities could
take back control of the bookstores and return to earlier textbook pricing
practices.
What are your thoughts?
Mike Sullivan,
TAA President
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