The Chronicle of Higher Education reported this morning that some in the university press community are concerned about a recent downward trend in textbook sales.

“‘I am hearing more and more complaints from people about their textbook sales, which for university presses means sales of specialized books that come in for upper-division courses,’ says Peter J. Givler, executive director of the Association of American University Presses.”

University of Illinois Press Director Willis Regier was also consulted for this story.

“[Mr. Regier] pointed out that many students now buy their books online, and those sales can be hard to track without closer analysis of the data. It can also be hard to determine which titles should be counted as textbooks.”