College students rarely flip through photo albums, so what use would they have for a yearbook?
Both apathy and funds are being blamed on the demise of the University of Virginia’s annual memento, “Corks and Curls”.
The UVA yearbook had been a tradition for students for about 120 years.
These times they are a-changing.
Teens and 20-somethings who want to reflect back on that football game or party just log on to a photo sharing site on the Internet -- or check their tags on Facebook. It’s all their at their fingertips.
While high school yearbooks have been a steady staple, college versions began to fall out of favor in the 1970s, according to Edmund Sullivan, executive director of Columbia Scholastic Press Association. About 15 years ago there were 2,400 higher education schools publishing yearbooks, according to yearbook publisher Jostens. Today there’s only about 1,000 colleges with the hard copy memories.
Old Dominion, Purdue and Mississippi State are among the larger schools that have already cancelled their versions.
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"You have campuses now where students are less connected to the campus itself, and are not participating in the traditional types of activities,'' said Logan Aimone, executive director of Associated Collegiate Press.
Some college students are trying reviving the yearbook in digital form. They include Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk, Va.
Still, Sullivan doesn’t believe that the yearbook is entirely replaceable.
“People are getting more accustomed to instant documentation, but what they're losing is permanent documentation.''
