Published: November 17, 2010

At a time when technology is infiltrating everyday life, students at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) say they prefer textbooks to reading from electronic textbooks.

According to a study conducted by the National Association of College Stores, 76 percent of college students would prefer to read a printed book instead of an electronic textbook, or e-textbook, if given the choice.

627 students were surveyed in campuses across the United States in October, and 13 percent said they only purchased an e-textbook in the past three months because their professors had required it.

At FCLC, students seem to agree that reading printed textbooks allows for a higher level of concentration, and increased retention of the material.

“If I’m looking at the computer for a long time, the words on the screen start to get blurry,” said first year graduate student Elyse Gibberman. “If I need to remember information or talk about the reading in class, I like to print it out so I can physically highlight the important parts.”

Giovanna Montepaone, FCLC ’11, said she uses her computer to write papers for class, to spend time on Facebook and to do online work for her internship. However, despite her acknowledgement that “the computer equals my life,” she prefers to read for class in hard copy.

“I think I am able to study better or grasp material better from textbooks than from e-textbooks,” Montepaeone said. “I can easily write notes in the margin.”

Raymond Tam, FCLC ’11, said it would be too difficult to focus on reading an e-textbook on the computer with the wide-ranging access it gives to students.

“It would be so easy to get distracted surfing the Internet,” Tam said. “With a printed textbook, I can just lock into the readings and get my work done.”

Jade Roth, vice president of books and digital strategy at Barnes and Noble, said that the survey results have been indicative of the overall lack of success they’ve had with e-textbook purchases in the 640 college and university bookstores they serve around the country.

“E-textbooks are a relatively small market,” she said. “We’ve been selling e-textbooks since 2003 and have seen very little traction.”

However, Roth said there has been a significant increase in e-textbook sales this fall and predicts that the industry will “grow explosively” in the next five years.

“A considerable increase in e-textbook content, coupled with the launch of the NOOKstudy application and cheaper prices has resulted in increased sales,” Roth said. “It’s a rapidly growing industry at this time, and I expect it to really catch on it the upcoming years.”