GILLIAN GALINSKY
BIZ/TECH REPORTER

Despite their availability as a greener, more cost-efficient alternative to traditional texts, electronic books have found little support from Humber students at the campus bookstore, manager Debby Martin said.
“The pricing isn’t there yet, as far as I’m concerned, for purchasing an e-book,” Martin said.
“It’s approximately 60 per cent of the price of a new book, so there is a savings, and it is green, but I think as consumers we don’t see it as that big of a savings. I think it needs to go down in price somewhat for more people to buy into it.”
Ruth Hickey, director of eLearning at Humber, said she sees a similar pattern with students of online courses and programs.
“Students want to have an option for resale, and if that is not available, students don’t want it,” she said.
“If it’s not beneficial to the student in the end, then I just don’t see that value of e-books.”
When offered for free at the library, however, e-books are becoming exponentially more popular each year said, Lynne Bentley, director of libraries, said.
She said the library has offered NetLibrary for about five years, and has just added Safari books to its list of resources.
Both services give students access to thousands of electronic titles.
“The usage of online books was initially low, but it’s really taken off with Safari books,” she said.
“Right now the number of available books is about 10,000, so it’s pretty low, but I think it’s going to grow exponentially pretty soon.”
Although the library was optimistic about the future of e-books, Martin does not think there will be a complete shift to electronic any time soon.
“What we’re finding with stores selling e-books is that people just don’t want to give up their hard copy,” Martin said.
“I mean I love curling up with a good book, a real book.”