As part of the Bookstore's green initiative, more textbooks are being offered in digital formats - a marketing trend that could result in a bookstore without books.
"We've been doing things with digital books for over a year now," said Melanie Sparks, Bookstore director. "It's a faculty initiative. It's the professor that places the order. More and more professors are getting in tune with digital reviews."
Sparks said between 11 and 15 textbook titles are being offered in digital formats this semester but that only four titles were sold. More could be offered in the future, she said, but that depends on textbook publishing houses.
She said the transition between hardcover textbooks and digital textbooks will be motivated by a growing market as faculty members opt for digital alternatives in their classrooms.
Students download the digital textbooks using an access code that can be purchased at the Bookstore, Sparks said.
"You access it for a period of time, which in this case is a semester," she said. "After that period of time, then you no longer have access and the publisher ... pulls the rights to it."
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Sparks said there are drawbacks to using digital textbooks but that they mainly apply to students.
"One of the disadvantages of buying it this way is you don't have the ability to sell the book back," she said.
David Mora, requisitions coordinator at the Bookstore, said he would be interested in seeing UNM offer textbooks exclusively in the digital format.
"I would be inclined to try it. I think it would be something that would be worth pursuing," he said.
Text in the digital books can be annotated and highlighted, and students might be able to share notes online, Mora said.
"The advantage of it would just be the sharing of information, just being able to study with different people at different locations," he said. "You don't have to find the time to study just at one particular place."
Though digital textbooks are becoming more and more popular, Sparks said some students and faculty members may be reluctant to make the switch.
Carolyn McSherry, a graduate student majoring in American Studies, said digital textbooks could be good for the environment but that she might not purchase them.
"I generally try to buy as much environmentally friendly stuff as I can," she said. "It sounds like a great idea. It doesn't sound like something I would probably be likely to use, though. I just doubt that any books that I'd be likely to read are going to be available in that format."
McSherry also said she likes being able to hold a book in her hands when she studies.
"I think there's a lot to be said for the tangibility of actual paper," she said. "That goes for writing and reading."
