By Manuel Gray / Staff Writer
The new trend (Albert Melendez / Asst. Photo Editor)
By Manuel Gray / Staff Writer
The world today has become an digital era.
Today’s generations has turned to electronics for everything.
One example is the way college students can read their textbooks from their iPad or tablet.
The Bookstore at Riverside City College offers many ways to acquire textbooks such as renting, buying and even accessing it online using E-books.
The Bookstore serves thousands of students a semester, offering different ways to purchasing textbooks.
An innovative way the Bookstore has helped students out is by offering E-books.
“This is the direction of the future as students grow up in the digital world; electronic books are going to be more important,” said Stacey. Weidner, the manager of the RCC Bookstore. “Barnes and Nobles wants to offer students choices and digital content is a choice; we offer rental, used, new and digital books.”
For Fall 2012 the Bookstore has 857 E-books on its shelves. They also offer 308 free seven day trials for any of those students who want to try the E-book and 829 rentals were offered to students.
The Bookstore offers nook study E-books that students can either rent or buy, and they work on PC’s and Mac’s.
The E-books can be downloaded to two computers, accessible offline, look and layout identical to the physical textbook, and can be copied and printed with limitations.
Students that are worried about the high prices of textbooks can rent a textbook and save 50 percent off of new prices, and with the E-book can save 60 percent savings depending on the publisher.
Some students’ concern with purchasing the E-book was that some of their instructors don’t allow electronic devices in their classroom.
“I am always on my laptop, doing homework for my classes and I even purchase an E-book which I find easier to slug around, but in the past, I did have some professors that didn’t allow me to use my laptop in class,” said Desiree Ybarra, an RCC student.
Some students said it would be more convenient for them to use the E-book because they are always using their electronics.
“If I am able to use my Macbook in class; I wouldn’t mind purchasing the E-book,” said Tyler Wright, an RCC student.
Abel Rodriguez, another RCC student, said he did not discover the E-book until it was passed around to him by his other friends who use E-books.
“I didn’t know what the E-book was at first, but talking with friends, who purchased the E-book, said it was less money spent on the actual textbooks,” he said.
One RCC instructor said the instructors at the college do not allow electron devices in their classes but the instructors can make the exception to allow students to use their laptops in class if they are using an E-book.