For Immediate Release
June 5, 2007
Contact: Stacy Skelly
Ph: 202-220-4556
Publishers Respond to ACSFA Report
June 5, 2007, Washington, DC: On June 5 two members of AAP’s Higher Education group, John Sargent, CEO of Holtzbrinck Publishers, and Stephen Hochheiser, Vice President of College Store and Public Affairs for Thomson Learning, appeared before the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance to present industry views on a newly-released ACSFA report, Turn the Page: Making College Textbooks More Affordable. The report (which can be found at http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/acsfa/turnthepage.pdf ) is the outgrowth of a study undertaken by ACSFA in 2006 at the request of two members of Congress, Rep. Howard McKeon (R-CA) and Rep. David Wu (D-OR), to look at the impact of textbook costs on students’ ability to afford post-secondary education, and to make recommendations to enhance the affordability of college instructional materials. AAP and member publishers participated in the process, presenting testimony at field hearings held across the country in the winter of 2006 and the spring of 2007.
Mr. Sargent expressed support for the report’s conclusion that attempts to legislate the marketplace or impose price controls would be counterproductive. Efforts should center on what publishers and other key stakeholders are already doing to relieve economic burdens on students, he said, underscoring the fact that for more than a decade publishers have been at the leading edge in developing digital materials that best meet the needs of faculty and an increasingly diverse student population.
Citing the Advisory Committee report’s focus on the development of a “national digital marketplace,” Mr. Hochheiser pointed out that Thomson and other publishers are already heavily invested in the concept of a digital marketplace. “We are already supporting the objectives of the CSU Digital Marketplace to develop an innovative digital resource that faculties can use to build cost-effective course materials. We are prepared to bring the same experience and expertise to evaluating and developing this broader national option,” he said.
Taking issue with some of the report’s comments and recommendations, Mr. Sargent expressed particular concern that the Committee’s assessment of prices equated textbooks and related course materials to basic commodities. “I find the comparison of pork bellies to cutting-edge interactive software and the wisdom of a Nobel Prize winner to be rather tenuous,” he said. He also expressed concern over the recommended expansion of the used textbook market, pointing out that neither authors nor publishers benefit from such sales. “It is hard to turn a clock forward and backward at the same time. How are we to provide valuable course materials if the key criterion of their value is whether the product can be resold?” Mr. Sargent asked.
To read the complete testimony presented by Mr. Sargent, click here. To read the complete testimony by Mr.Hochheiser, click here.
About the Association of American Publishers
The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP’s more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies. AAP members publish hardcover and paperback books in every field, educational materials for the elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and professional markets, scholarly journals, computer software, and electronic products and services. The protection of intellectual property rights in all media, the defense of the freedom to read and the freedom to publish at home and abroad, and the promotion of reading and literacy are among the Association’s highest priorities.
###