Textbook costs have risen dramatically in recent years, and many faculty are aware of the burden this can place on students. There have been many articles written about this trend. An excellent source of information is the Student Public Interest Research Group online (Student PIRGs). This group focuses on topics such as hunger, homelessness, and student rights, in addition to the spiraling cost of textbooks.
The Library Can Help
Library collections, generally speaking, support and complement the curriculum. Therefore, the library does not, as a rule, acquire textbooks for the permanent collections except in cases of specific reference need. However, it is possible for a faculty member to provide a purchased copy of the course text that can be placed on reserve in the library: students can then scan a chapter at a time at no cost in the library. Stevenson University Library has been doing this for years, but not many faculty take advantage of it. Note: review or free copies of textbooks received from publishers are not acceptable for placing on reserve due to copyright guidelines.
Talk to a Librarian!
The SU Librarians stand ready and willing to assist you in finding the best options for you and your students. In some cases, we may even purchase the book to place on reserve.
The concept of open source seeks to break the monopoly publishers have gained in the textbook arena, by utilizing the expertise of volunteer faculty who write alternative textbooks and make them available at a lower cost to students. Some textbooks are customizable.
OER Collections and Repositories
These sites have a mix of short materials (readings, articles, videos, single lessons, etc.) and longer works:
OER Ready-to-Go Textbooks and Courses
These sites offer full textbooks or full courses:
OER Search Engines and Tools
There are also search engines dedicated to finding OER, which can be faster than searching through multiple repositories or websites:
Further Resources
For more information or links to even more sites, try these guides from other libraries who are also interested in OER:
E-Books
Through the SU Library's subscriptions, you and your students have access to thousands of ebooks. A large percentage of these books allow unlimited numbers of users, making them ideal for an entire class to use. Whether you want your students to read the entire book, or if you just need links to a specific chapter or two, these books are always freely available and can be accessed from anywhere.
Check out these guides for additional information:
Use the pages in this guide to learn how to make the best use of each eBook collection.
This guide offers detailed information for successfully linking to the library's ebooks.
The Library provides help with E-Reserves. Faculty may request that limited portions of a book be scanned and made available digitally provided there is no copyright infringement.
The library requests that faculty get their course materials in as soon as possible before the semester begins so that permission can be obtained and staff have time to physically scan the item. Please contact your liaison librarian for questions relating to E-Reserves.
