Welcome to the home of the Canadian Roundtable on Academic Materials!
Simply by participating in the national dialogue about academic materials you are already part of the solution. If there is any way we may better facilitate your participation in CRAM please do not hesitate to contact us.
In 1995 the University of Alberta Students’ Union conducted a Price Survey of 196 textbooks. The books selected were chosen because they were stable or common books – they had been used for years by many different instructors and peer universities – and represented standard text books in their respective fields.
In 2007 they revisited the original survey and found that 137 of the textbooks were still being produced and used. They collected the list price for these textbooks and compared them to the 1995 prices. Over the period of 1995 to 200y the price of the 137 textbooks had increased by 75.2%. Inflation for the period of 1995-2006, according to Statistics Canada CPI, was 27.1%. The textbook prices had increased by 280% the rate of inflation.
In November, 2007 the University of Alberta Bookstore and Students’ Union hosted the National Roundtable on Academic Materials (NART) in Toronto, Ontario. Representatives from thirteen Canadian universities and all five major publishing companies attended the roundtable. A national dialogue on academic materials was firmly established. In February, 2008 several of the representatives reconvened, this time under the name of the Canadian Roundtable on Academic Materials (CRAM).
In June 2008 CRAM met in Toronto to transition the new group of student association executives on the academic materials issue. The conference was extremely successful in building upon the energy and momentum created over the previous year and in developing concrete steps to expand the dialogue to more post-secondary institutes across Canada.
Vetting the Key Principles was one of the major tasks accomplished during the summer. With their adoption on August 22nd, 2008 CRAM clearly outlined the direction in which it intends to conduct the dialogue on academic materials.
Current members are expressing the desire to transition CRAM from a periodic conference to a constant forum and database accessible anywhere at anytime. Thus theCRAM.ca was born. Simultaneously, they identified the need to be accessible to every postsecondary institute across Canada. The cost of academic materials impacts all Canadian students; all stakeholders must have the opportunity to be involved in the dialogue that seeks to address this issue. Welcome to your opportunity to be engaged!
The cost of academic materials is an issue that impacts the students on your campus. CRAM will be adapting over the next year to accommodate your participation in the national dialogue. Provide your on the website so that it can grown to better serve your needs. Get involved in the forums to express you point of view. Help CRAM grow to better facilitate that academic materials dialogue in Canada – your students will thank you.