But others say that the length of reading lists has remained fairly consistent over the years.

"Basically, my impression is that the numbers of books recommended by professors has not changed," Murphy says. "But this is obviously a general statement because within courses and departments, there may have been some changes."

Thomas says he agrees with Murphy, explaining that while individual course lists may have changed in length over the years, the overall departmental requirements have remained steady.

"In my field, [the reading lists] have stayed the same in terms of length," Thomas says. "The expectation of what one reads for the general examination may have been somewhat abbreviated, but overall the expectations of what must be completed in courses haven't changed."

Rather than seeing an overall decrease or increase in the amount of reading assigned, Mendelsohn says that the length of reading lists have fluctuated in his time teaching.

"I've watch [reading lists] first grow and then grow reduced," says Mendelsohn. "They began growing when it became easier to reproduce and pass out material, and then it decreased when reading lists became too much."

But Mendelsohn says that he rarely adjusts his reading lists to accommodate the type of text being used. Instead, he says he includes whatever material is relevant, whether it is in a sourcebook or textbook.

"You add materials when it looks interesting, and sometimes you just have to scale back," he says.

But Kishlansky says he hesitates to cut down on reading that he feels is important to the coursework because some students may be discouraged by an unusually long reading list.

"This wasn't an exercise in typing for me," Kishlansky says. "I put together a course very carefully in that I try to use the lecture to supplement the readings and the readings to supplement the lectures. You couldn't really get a sense of the course if you only do half."

Kishlansky says he believes that a student's educational experience is only enhanced when students do all the assigned reading, and preferably before lecture.

"If you did [the reading before-hand], you would have an enhanced experience," he says. "Athletes don't practice after their meet, and students shouldn't study after the lecture."

But Kishlansky says that he also lives in "the real world."

"This is not just about classroom education," Kishlansky says. "It's about all sorts of things in [students'] lives that are equally important and need to be juggled. One just has to recognize that only a small percentage of students will be really into your course, and the rest just won't get the same experience."