Libby Young
A NEW Web site is set to help academics and teachers source new teaching material and textbooks from around the world. PubText’s plans could revolutionise academic publishing, giving publishers the chance to market their wares on a global scale and enabling teachers to choose from a much wider variety of books.
The PubText Web site allows one to examine English-language textbooks, textbooks relating to a particular geographical region and non-English-language textbooks. You can select the level you’re interested in, from primary to university level, or search by key words. You’ll then be presented with a list of books that meet your requirements.
Each book has a short description and may be linked to the book’s own “home page”. You can check who else is using the book and if it has received any awards. Another section allows you to read comments or reviews by other teachers and academics.
If you think a book may be suitable, you can request an inspection copy online. The site is designed for easy browsing – as soon as you find a book you like you hit the “request” button and the book is added to your online basket. Once you’ve completed your search for material you can go through the basket and decide exactly what books you would like to inspect. PubText then e-mails you to confirm that your inspection copy requests have been forwarded to the publisher.
PubText keeps publishers informed of books that are prescribed or placed on recommended reading lists. In some cases PubText will also inform the campus bookshop and library of the decision. An e- mail follow-up system also keeps publishers in contact with lecturers and teachers who have recommended or adopted their books.
PubText was developed in Israel by IBM and an Israeli marketing company. Offices have already been established in Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and South Africa. These are run by experienced academic publishers.
Richard Ross, who heads the South African arm, believes that the system will benefit local publishers enormously. The system has already received a favourable response from publishers. “There is definite co- operation with some of the major multinationals like Oxford University Press and Macmillan, and also interest from South African publishers like David Philip, who will be putting up 50 titles,” said Ross.
There are also plans to incorporate an online bookshop into PubText’s Web site.
Richard Ross can be contacted on [email protected] and PubText can be found at http://www.pubtext.com