2019 Charleston Library Conference

As college textbook and course material costs continue to rise, it’s clear that there is an increasing need for faculty and librarians to provide cost-effective resources to students, and today’s digital/electronic options have the potential to help meet that need. During this session, we will discuss the 2019 Library Journal Textbook Affordability study to better understand the current state of the textbook affordability issue from the perspective of academic librarians, keeping in mind the following questions:

• To what extent is textbook affordability seen as an issue that needs resolving?
• What are some of the strategies that institutions and libraries have adopted to help combat the problem of textbook affordability?
• To what extent do libraries and faculty cooperate and collaborate to resolve the issue?
• How do these libraries assess their success in making textbook content more affordable for students?
• Are there some disciplines and course types that lend themselves better to electronic alternatives than others?

To complement the academic librarian perspective, hear preliminary results from part two of this survey (final survey results to be released later in 2019), which surveyed a broad selection of higher education faculty with the aim of learning more about their experiences with textbook affordability and how this and related issues affect their students, course planning, and overall accessibility of materials. One specific problem that librarians and faculty face, is that while many Open Educational Resources (OER) exists, it can be difficult and time-consuming to find them and know whether they’re available for use in courses. In addition, there may be unrestricted, DRM-free e-books available through the library that faculty could use in their courses but might not know about. During this session, you will also hear how an academic library is currently using EBSCO Faculty Select to help increase access and affordability of educational resources and learn more about different tools and resources to help libraries provide cost-effective course materials to faculty and students.