Case Study: Liberal Studies I Reader

Each year, a subcommittee of the Liberal Studies I faculty review the LSI reader to update its contents to accommodate the current curricular goals. Once the faculty have completed the selection process, it requires several months for a publisher to secure copyright permissions, typeset the reader, and publish it in sufficient quantity for the 600 students enrolled in this course.

Custom published texts like this will be produced much more easily as more texts are stored in electronic formats and as micropayments simplify the copyright clearance process. Furthermore, the faculty will have the freedom to choose among a range of display options, including:

• Traditional printed anthologies, comparable to today's reader
• On-line web sites that can combine readings with interactive exercises
• Electronic readers that free the reader from the traditional computer display format.

At present, it is only feasible to produce custom texts for large courses like LSI. In the future, will tailored texts become feasible for the majority of typical college courses?