In response to the changing educational environment where digital devices are being utilized in class, the Hanyang University (HYU) Press announced their recent contract with Google Play Books to publish e-books. The books that are included in the contract total in 35 which are all agreed by professors and the authors of the book to allow the books to be distributed as e-books.

According to the press, they have surveyed students of HYU to measure their preference for consumption supposing that the textbooks are published in e-book forms during the winter of 2018. The survey resulted in 63 percent of the Hanyang students agreeing to buy the e-books for the following reasons. 67 percent of them answered “portability” as their reason of agreement while 20 percent of them focused on “lower price”; “convenience functions” such as searching functions remained the reason chosen the least. Lee Sang-geun, the person who oversees the contract, asserted that he values potential demands increasing in the future despite his prediction of lower demands in the current status compared to the survey results. “The aim of the contract is to meet the user’s needs and to increase the quality of the service. It is deemed more proper to view the e-books as complements than substitutes of paper books in the status quo.” said Lee. He also emphasized the advantages that e-books exclusively carry.

The price is not only 70 percent lower than paper textbooks, but students can also save multiple books in their digital device thereby allowing students to enjoy comfortable mobility. Plus, there are special features only produced by e-books that help interactive learning, and the books could be saved in mobile applications as well. Therefore, when seeking for portability and helpful learning mechanism, utilizing e-book is recommended.