CUSTOMER
SPOTLIGHT
Adobe® Acrobat®
Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader®
Adobe Content Server
McGraw-Hill/Primis
Custom Publishing
Adobe Content Server and Adobe PDF reduce costs and simplify creation of
custom textbooks for college professors and students worldwide
Every college course is unique. Similar subject
materials to Adobe PDF files that are assembled
• McGraw-Hill Education is a unit
of The McGraw-Hill Companies,
a global information services
provider with more than 350
offices in 33 countries.
• Revenue: $4.6 billion in fiscal
year 2001
• Headquarters: New York City,
New York
• www.mcgraw-hill.com
matter can be presented in vastly different ways,
into a textbook containing a table of contents,
depending on the professors, the students, and
chapter headings, and numbered pages. Educators
even recent public events. Ideally, a professor
even have the option of submitting their own
could easily assemble a single textbook with read-
papers in Adobe PDF to include in books.
BENEFITS SUMMARY
use materials in addition to traditional textbooks
• McGraw-Hill enhances customer
service by enabling professors to
create custom textbooks and have
them delivered as Adobe eBooks.
• Adobe Content Server helps
McGraw-Hill secure copyrightprotected materials by allowing
only designated recipients to
open Adobe eBooks.
• Customized Adobe eBooks can
cost up to 60% less than new
textbooks and 30% less than
used textbooks.
• Adobe Content Server software
gives McGraw-Hill the flexibility to
assign or block various activities
on eBooks, such as printing,
copying, and editing text.
• Adobe eBooks simplify work for
professors and students, who can
quickly search for topics in entire
books and electronically highlight
and make notes on text.
• McGraw-Hill can easily convert
textbooks in Adobe PDF to Adobe
eBooks or send them to printers
for reliable printing.
• Only Adobe eBooks can handle
the rich graphics, varied text,
and complex formulas common
in college textbooks.
and spend a lot of time locating and assigning
PROFILE
ings and assignments that reflect his or her interests and the latest research in a field of study. The
reality, however, is that many professors want to
supplemental texts.
Electronic proofs of the customized textbooks in
Adobe PDF are sent to professors for review.
Before they are sent, McGraw-Hill/Primis helps
secure the Adobe eBooks with Adobe Content
Server software. Using the software, McGraw-Hill
can require that Adobe eBooks be opened only
With its long history of serving the needs of
on the computers of the people who order the
educators and students, McGraw-Hill set out to
textbooks. The division also selects options in
address this problem by founding McGraw-Hill/
Adobe Content Server that allow viewers to print
Primis Custom Publishing in 1989. Today, the
pages, but not electronically copy or edit text.
division is a leader in creating customized college textbooks that are delivered in print or electronically as eBooks in Adobe PDF (Portable
Document Format) to professors and students
worldwide. Says Julie Keck, senior marketing manager for McGraw-Hill/Primis, “Our custom books
solve the age-old complaint of no one textbook
ever being enough. Now professors can assemble
the exact textbook they want and have it delivered
electronically as an Adobe eBook.”
Creative approach to learning
The McGraw-Hill/Primis database contains
thousands of chapters from books, research
papers, and independent studies. Professors can
log on to the McGraw-Hill/Primis Web site,
www.mhhe.com/primis/online, and choose from
materials to create custom textbooks. The
Primis system automatically converts the selected
“Our goal is to give professors exactly what
they want while securing our copyright-protected
materials,” explains Keck. “Adobe Content Server
and Adobe eBooks help make this possible.”
Once approved by professors, textbooks in Adobe
PDF are sold online through university bookstores and made available to students through the
McGraw-Hill/Primis Web site.
Smart use of time and resources
Giving professors the freedom to quickly create
textbooks in Adobe PDF is only one benefit of
the Primis system and the use of Adobe Content
Server. Cost savings are another. Textbooks delivered as Adobe eBooks can cost up to 60% less
than new paperbound textbooks because expenses
for binding, delivery, and managing inventories of
paper books are eliminated. Says Keck, “Students
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The platform- and application-independent
Adobe PDF files retain the integrity of the text,
complex equations, and rich graphics common
in college textbooks. With no reworking of
custom orders, McGraw-Hill can take textbooks in Adobe PDF, print them, and then use
Adobe Content Server to help secure copyrightprotected information. Adds Keck, “The qualMcGraw-Hill/Primis Custom Publishing
creates customized college textbooks
that are delivered in print or electronically as Adobe PDF–based eBooks
to professors and students worldwide.
Adobe Content Server helps McGrawHill secure copyright-protected materials by allowing only designated recipients to open Adobe eBooks. Adobe
PDF–based eBooks support the rich
graphics and complex content common
in textbooks and are fully searchable,
so students and educators can easily
locate topics, no matter how long
books are. In addition, students can
electronically highlight text, underline
key sections, and make notes on pages.
“We lowered our costs and
streamlined management of
ity and consistency of materials in Adobe PDF
are exactly the same, whether books appear
end up paying less and getting information that is
more relevant to their studies.”
Head of the class
Convenience is another benefit. Adobe eBooks
McGraw-Hill/Primis Custom Publishing ser-
are fully searchable, so students and educators can
vices have enjoyed rave reviews from professors,
easily locate topics, no matter how long books are.
students, and authors, who welcome the
In addition, students can electronically highlight
expanded market for materials. At the same
text, underline key sections, and make notes on
time, McGraw-Hill has seen its own costs
pages, without worrying about defacing original
reduced because fewer books need to be kept in
text; they can even go back and eliminate high-
inventory, which simplifies administrative work
lighting, which is impossible to do on paper. The
and reduces the number of unsold books that are
compact Adobe eBooks can be carried effortlessly
discarded as updated versions are published.
on laptops and read with Adobe Acrobat eBook
Reader software.
titles with Adobe Content
One format, many options
Server and Adobe PDF.
Thousands of professors worldwide take advan-
But most importantly, we’re
tage of McGraw-Hill/Primis Custom Publishing
providing customers with
onscreen or in print.”
services to assemble textbooks that are as unique
“We lowered our costs and streamlined management of titles with Adobe Content Server
and Adobe PDF,” concludes Keck. “But most
importantly, we’re providing customers with
unmatched services, which keeps them coming
back again and again.”
as their classes. Some request that books be
unmatched services, which
delivered only as Adobe eBooks. Some want
TOOLBOX
keeps them coming back
books delivered electronically and in print,
again and again.”
while others order only printed textbooks.
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader
Adobe Content Server
Julie Keck
Senior marketing manager
McGraw-Hill/Primis
Custom Publishing
With Adobe PDF and Adobe Content Server,
McGraw-Hill/Primis has the flexibility to
Macintosh computers
PCs
address the varied demands of customers.
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Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, Acrobat eBook Reader, the Adobe PDF logo, and Reader are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in
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