The Office for Campus Life (OCL) is offering a Senior Memory Book in lieu of a traditional yearbook for a second straight year, due to declining interest and high costs.
The OCL decided to switch to a Senior Memory Book last year for the class of 2012 and opted to do so again for the class of 2013.
The decision was prompted by the yearbook's low sales and high expense, as well as students and staff's lack of interest in getting involved in its production, according to OCL Director Joe Golia.
"Yearbooks are changing across the country, pretty much disappearing from every institution," he said. "A lot of schools are getting rid of them. Other colleges are having the same frustrations with the yearbook."
Previous yearbooks yielded an average of 400 sold per year, purchased mostly by parents, according to Golia. The price of the book often increased each year, finally costing upward of $100 to purchase.
Golia said that because students generally did not want to help produce the yearbook, making a large yearbook, gathering club and athletic pictures and capturing a fair representation of life at Tufts was difficult.
"We decided to alleviate some of these problems," he said.
The Senior Memory Book is produced entirely in color, is smaller than a yearbook and costs $50, Golia said.
"On our end, it's much easier to produce," he said. "[There is] less aggravation. It's actually very doable for just one student to work on."
Last year, the OCL received no complaints about the Senior Memory Book and the change appeared to satisfy both students and parents, Golia said.
However, sales of the Senior Memory Book were not greater than those of the yearbook, still matching the average of 400, according to Golia.
"[It's an] interesting sign for what we'll do in the future," he said. "It may be in the future that it'll die out eventually. Right now, we have the ability [to produce one]."
"The book this year features a letter from the president, senior portraits and candid photographs of senior events," Golia said. "Students are encouraged to send in photographs but are not guaranteed that the pictures will be published."
The memory book is targeted specifically at seniors, as they were the only class previously purchasing the yearbook, according to Golia. It therefore highlights the senior class and events.
There are photographers at every event on campus whose photos can be accessed for use in the memory book, senior Sarah Davis said. Davis is the lone student working on the Senior Memory Book and is also a layout editor for the Daily.
Davis said she and the OCL are currently gathering photographs and are using a template from last year's Senior Memory Book to plan out this year's version. Work on the book will continue into the spring.
"Hopefully I'll be able to get a lot of photos from seniors," she said.
The Senior Memory Book is also advertised to parents, according to Golia. Parents receive a letter regarding the book twice, once in the fall and another in the spring, he said.
Parents also have the option of submitting advertisements for their students, Davis said.
Generally, students seem unaware of the existence of the Senior Memory Book and how it differs from a traditional yearbook.
"I don't really know the difference," senior Catherine Heyward said. "I don't know how long it is. But you never know what you're missing out on ... I should get one just in case. I'm probably not going to buy a senior ring."
Senior Jabulani Carnegie seemed indifferent to the memory book.
"I probably won't buy one," he said. "[They are] not appealing at all."
