Although not everyone needs textbooks, they still actively serve four audiences within the discipline. The four audiences that benefit from textbooks are students, instructors, the textbook sales force, and the textbook authors themselves. With a growing number of online classes where students have less and less, or even no, face time with their instructors, textbooks and other well-constructed instructional materials become critical. One of the easiest ways to demonstrate the importance of textbooks for students is by discussing what is missing when an instructor chooses not to use a textbook. (Contains 6 resources.)