The cost is not the only concern for many university students when surveying their course textbooks for the first time.

For many students, the author of their required text is none other than their course instructor.

Mike Atkinson, a psychology professor at Western, is co-author of the textbook listed in his course syllabus and has been for years. He said the motivation to write it was simple: “to produce the best possible text that I could.”

Atkinson explained there were good parts in many textbooks already available, so this was a way to combine all the best parts into one text.

Atkinson added the financial gain for making a textbook is very small in the Canadian market.

English professor Stephen Adams wrote Poetic Designs for his English theory course after struggling with other textbooks on the subject.

“[The publisher] described my particular book as a ‘long-term slow seller.’ In other words, they weren’t expecting huge sales immediately, but they thought that it would have a long shelf life. I’m pleased to say that seems to be the way it’s turned out,” Adams said.

Another cause for concern is when professors’ textbooks are revised on a regular basis, forcing students to buy the new edition rather than buy the textbook used.

Martin Zinke-Allmang, a Western physics professor, wrote the textbook for some of his courses, but says he has little control over whether new editions are issued.

“The publishers look at it as a business decision and the author has very limited input,” he explained.

Michael Gazer, director of marketing of higher education at Nelson Education publishing, said they don’t change editions for the sake of changing them.

“From our perspective, when we issue a new edition it’s always because things have changed in the discipline,” he explained.

Cam Tsujita, an earth sciences professor who co-authored a Canadian text for the first-year level in his discipline, also found the author has little control over whether or not a new edition is produced.

“I don’t have any input; I’m pretty much bound by what [the publisher] decides,” he explained.

However, Tsujita said students aren’t complaining.

“I used to use more online sources and things like that, but it was actually on the request of the students I [began to] use a textbook.”

Michael Zsolt, a second-year social science student, didn’t have a problem with using a text written by the course instructor, so long as it was relevant and well written. However, he disagreed with new editions coming out if they don’t contain any dramatic changes.

“If they’re going to release a new edition, it should contain new content or big section changes.”

Eric Williams, a third-year science student, is happy as long as the use of a professor’s textbook saves students money.

“You can’t be bitter about that,” he explained.

Christina Dineen, a health sciences graduate student, said course packs that include articles written by the instructor are beneficial.

“Often professors are experts in what they’re teaching,” she said.