During this year’s Open Access Week we asked students to share how the costs of textbooks affects them. We asked at Lewis and IC for the most students had ever paid for a textbook, and how students have cut costs. Loyola’s students share the experience of students nationwide: textbooks can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, and students have to make tough choices to afford those books. Lots of students have to get by without any textbooks for the semester, which affects their class experience and grades.
The library can help instructors cut these costs for students. We can place copies of textbooks on course reserves for students, purchase unlimited user ebooks (in some cases), and recommend journal, primary source, or streaming media collections to replace traditional textbooks. The library can also help faculty who are interested in using or creating open educational resources. Loyola faculty have published their own textbooks through eCommons, Loyola’s institutional repository. Some examples of where to look for high-quality peer reviewed free textbooks are:
For help on any of this, please contact Niamh McGuigan and Margaret Heller.
