Chris Diaz – författare

A recent survey reports that a student’s average costs of textbooks for a year at a public four-year university is nearly $1,300. Equally worrisome is another study’s finding that two-thirds of students will skip using a textbook because of the cost. By offering and spotlighting affordable course materials, academic libraries can prove their value while helping to create a more equitable learning experience for students. In this book, the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) has gathered its members’ expertise to describe affordable text initiatives that promise to improve student learning and student retention. Topics covered includesurprising findings on the most expensive courses for textbook requirements;a case study showing how LSU abandoned DDA, established requirements for e-books collections, and boosted usage to 17,000 unique titles accessed;ways to build on existing procedures and relationships of print reserves to develop e-book collections for courses;how to work productively with campus bookstores;analysis of library programs that offered grants to faculty for developing course texts at UCLA, North Carolina State University, and the University of Southern Mississippi;creating a textbook database so faculty can discover potential textbooks the library already has or could purchase in e-book format;measuring textbook usage through COUNTER reports or course reserve systems; andideas for partnering with campus instructional technology and distance ed units.This valuable book demonstrates how librarians can use their collection, licensing, and faculty outreach know-how to help students and their instructors address skyrocketing textbook prices.

Shortly after the syllabi are posted, and long before the beginning of the term, interlibrary loan departments at academic libraries will have filled or rejected innumerable textbook requests. While it would be unwise if not impossible to buy and circulate every textbook at a college or university, there are many academic libraries who are selectively adding textbooks to their collections. And the practice seems to be gaining momentum. In this volume, the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) and editor Chris Diaz gather case studies that pull together creative approaches and best practices for print textbook reserve programs. This book discusses such topics asresults and analysis from a detailed survey of a state university’s core-course textbook reserve program; funding sources for starting or piloting a program;using aggregated enrollment, grade, and textbook cost data to identify “high impact” courses;identifying course-related books that are in the library’s collection or fit an existing collection policy;workflow for using bookstore data with ILS and purchasing systems; andusing LibGuides and Google Sheets to publicize textbook holdings, and how a back-end database supports discovery for students and reporting for reserves staff.A textbook reserve program can be one way of helping students who are struggling with the high cost of textbooks, and this book spotlights a variety of examples that can be used as models.