SafaryU

Definition

SafariU is a commercial on-line service developed by O'Reilly Media and allows teachers to create printed custom-made textbooks from chapters of books edited by over 20 publishers (e.g. O'Reilly, Addison Wsley, Pearson Education).

These textbooks do receive a ISBN number and are shipped as printed books to the teacher or the local university bookstore.

The process

Registration and conditions

• A qualified university teacher has to register with O'Reilly
• Membership is free under the condition that students collectively consume a minimum of $700.00 USD per year in books and/or online subscriptions.

A give step process

1. Gather content from books
   • Book list is searchable and chapter contents are shown to the teacher
   • You may add chapters or sections with a button
2. Organize it
   • You can drop/drag edit the table of contents
   • In addition, you can upload your own PDF contents to be included
3. Choose some Options
   • Definition of the cover page
   • Selection of the binding
4. Review
   • Generates a PDF
5. Finalize
   • This will commit the process and will generate a ISBN number
   • You will get the book after max. 4 week (according to the web site)

Cost

• Books must be between 100 and 800 pages
• Cost/page is $0.16 USD, i.e. a typical 200 page custom book is $32
• Students also may buy on-line access to up to 10 books you used.

Discussion

Daniel K. Schneider did not test this service for real, but I find it an interesting concept. I may create a book for next semester. You have to plan ahead !

Current restrictions for the moment:

• Only English books seem to be available
• Mostly technical books (some business)

Alternatives: Write it yourself, e.g. with lulu

Links

SafariU

• http://www.safariu.com/

Other

• Cox, John (2004) E-Books, Challenges and Opportunities, D-Lib Magazine, 10 (10), October 2004
• Custom Book Publishing For The Academic World: SafariU by Robin Good, 2006.