Starting this semester, the Penn State Bookstore is beginning to offer e-textbooks as an alternative to more expensive hard copies.

This initiative is designed to save students money and already there are 40 different e-textbooks available.

This new option is an excellent idea and frankly, overdue, in light of ever-increasing textbook costs.

Forty textbooks are already available in electronic form and professors as well as the bookstore deserve congratulations for cooperating to provide this alternative.

Hopefully, this cooperation between professors and the bookstore to provide e-textbooks will continue and expand to additional subjects, because any cost-effective method to replace hard copies of textbooks will prove to be a boon to students.

In the future, this new system may be able to branch out and provide portions of books, in case the entire book is not required reading for the class. This may be useful and cost-effective in the case of anthologies, where only one or two readings are necessary and purchasing an entire textbook may not be sensible.

In addition to e-textbooks, it's important to remember that there are other methods to keep book costs reasonable for students, such as making packets with relevant readings and making them available for purchase at various bookstores. More professors making packets would be useful because it would allow them to dictate the readings and it would save money in the long run.

It is important that this new initiative presents students with the opportunity and the incentive to purchase e-textbooks, so that they have the choice to follow through and purchase these items.

E-textbooks will also help students who are discouraged from taking a particular class simply because of a large number of required books and the hassle of dealing with back-ordered books that may not be available for weeks.

Overall, the initiative is an important step, much like used books, in combating the rising cost of textbooks and providing students with a feasible alternative to expansive and expensive book lists.