With students, parents and politicians all frustrated by high textbook costs, recent years have seen many innovations as well as state and federal legislation. Much of the latter has focused on requirements that involve providing information so students and professors can make sound choices. So new laws or proposals call for publishers to provide details about how different editions of books really are, and basic ordering information so students can comparison shop and colleges can have a stock of new and used options.

A new bill would discourage professors from assigning their own textbooks to their students by banning them from collecting royalties on those sales.

The climbing cost of college textbooks has been the subject of congressional hearings and legislative efforts in almost three dozen states. A federal law that takes effect in July is aimed at controlling textbook costs. It requires publishers to tell professors the price of textbooks when they choose books for classes, and it ends the practice of bundling

College students strapped for cash are in for a treat this tax season. Under a change in the tax code, the cost of textbooks and course materials are eligible for a tax credit for the first time for students and their families.

Companies that sell textbooks to California universities must offer electronic versions by 2020, under a new state law.

Responding to criticism that its anti-piracy mechanisms could slow the growth of the eBook industry, Adobe Systems Inc. plans to liberalize its approach toward Digital Rights Management (DRM) with eBooks.

While Congress is still weighing legislation that could put $500-million into the development of open, online courses, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has stepped up to the plate. The charity is giving $12.9-million to advance technology at community colleges, improving virtual learning environments for both students and teachers.

State legislation passed in the spring could put up-to-the-minute instructional content at students' fingertips — either online or in customized printed form — eliminating the mass-market hardback textbook.

Rep. Norma Chavez, representing the House and Senate Hispanic caucuses, told board members that proposed standards for U.S. history, government and other social studies courses are a slap at the state's growing Hispanic population. Only 16 of 162 historical figures that must be covered in social studies are Hispanic.

President Obama and his administration need to get more involved if the United States is to meet his goal of having the world's highest proportion of college graduates by 2020, panelists said at the annual meeting of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities here on Monday.