University
libraries are taking it upon themselves to help alleviate the cost of course
materials for their students.
For
example, the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries created a new program
to loan textbooks for selected courses, focusing on large-enrollment classes
with a high rate of student withdrawal or failure. Sixty titles (including
standards such as Campbell Biology
and Mankiw’s Principles of Macroeconomics)
are available for two-hour checkouts, although students must remain within the
library during the checkout period. They’re allowed to copy portions of the
text, however.
This
program might not seem all that innovative—a number of campus libraries across
North America already loan out textbooks—but the UTA library system previously
didn’t offer current textbooks at all. The libraries established the program to
address the problem of students trying to make it through a difficult course
without the textbook because they didn’t have money to buy or rent it.
“We are
committed to helping students get the resources they need to succeed
academically and textbook lending is one way we hope to accomplish that,” said
Rebecca Bichel, dean of libraries.
The Universityof Massachusetts at Amherst Libraries recently launched the fourth round of its
Open Education Initiative to provide cash incentives to faculty for the
development of free or inexpensive alternatives to regular textbooks. The
alternatives can include materials created by the instructor, library
resources, or open-access resources available elsewhere.
The Open
Education Initiative offers grants of $1,000 to faculty teaching a course of
200 or fewer students and $2,500 to faculty teaching a larger course. To date,
30 instructors from eight Umass schools and colleges have participated. The
libraries claim to have saved students upward of $1 million on their textbooks.
