Frank Lowney returned from CAMEX 2013 with a fresh
appreciation for campus bookstore, but he has a key piece of advice for them.
Lowney, project
coordinator of the Digital Innovation Group, an initiative of the University
System of Georgia and Georgia College & State University, went to Kansas
City as a Thought Leader presenter at CAMEX, discussing course materials in a
digital age.
He saw firsthand at the CAMEX trade show that
collegiate retailers are diversifying their product mix, but wonders if that
will be enough if students no longer go to the store to obtain required course
materials. And, as he wrote in his TeleRead blog post, that day may be getting closer.
In the end, Lowney’s best advice for college stores is
to explore every possible avenue to help institutions create and distribute
their own digital course material.
“Campus bookstores, libraries, and university presses
(where they exist) are natural allies in this kind of effort,” he wrote.
“Faculty creating e-textbooks may have the content expertise, but they will
need lots of help in all the other aspect of book production.”
