Have Viewbooks Lost Their Luster?

For decades, glossy viewbooks have served as a focal point for many college recruitment efforts. They encapsulate the best that colleges have to offer – endless lists of academic majors and minors, multitudes of extracurricular activities, countless accounts of student experiences, and lots of beautiful photos that all make you wish you were there. In recent years, the effectiveness of these recruitment materials has come in to question as costs of producing, printing, and delivering these pieces have risen, all the while prospective students have found other means of retrieving much of the same information. As a result, many colleges nationwide are looking into alternatives method of reaching students that are more focused on factors such as students’ bio-demographic information and unique interests. Additionally, universities are now ‘going to where the students are,’ employing technologies like social-media while continuing to make their websites more appealing to students. Still, colleges must walk the fine line of retaining tradition while transforming with the times. So where does the future of the viewbook stand amidst this instant-information age?