Belmont, Calif.

National Geographic Learning (NGL), part of Cengage Learning and a provider of quality educational materials for the K‐12, higher education, adult education and ELT markets, today announced its entrance into the academic higher education and career markets with the release of a new series of educational readers. The National Geographic Learning Reader Series was created by experienced subject matter experts using the distinguished, multimedia-rich content of the National Geographic Society.

Book manufacturers and publishers used to squeeze each other to cut costs at the other's expense. Now they are cutting costs together in partnerships of convenience. Welcome to 2004. It's like 2003, only the recession's grip has lessened. Production managers continue to shave a penny here, save a dollar there, while keeping up hope that the vaunted recovery will hit their employer's slice of the book publishing industry soon. Meanwhile, large retail and bookstore chains are returning books by the truckload, according to industry regulars. This dilutes revenues and increases costs for the publishers, leaving them with diminished cash flow and pinched