The collapse of the US retailer Borders is not new news. If you want a good run down on exactly how they ballsed up their company have a listen to this ABC Book Show podcast
The circumstances for academic publishers is different. So is Borders the canary in the mine? Not exactly but in a way it is. The thrust of this article “What we should learn from the collapse of Borders is that things can change fast. A good track record and well established business model is no protection. If you are moving forward by looking back you are in trouble.
The big publishers have been moving about looking for an angle. Pearson’s Open Class is a clear sign that they see the writing on the wall, and they all provide some type of additional online resource to support their texts, but textbooks are still the major business.
A related thing that has bobbed up recently in the U.S. is the Text Book Rebellion which is pushing either a massive cut in textbook prices or a shift to free Open Texts. It has some major student groups behind and I suspect they will vote with their feet.
Interesting times.