Copley Library Annual Report 2017-2018

Textbook Accessibility Task force

For the past two years, the Textbook Accessibility Task Force, a diverse group of USD faculty, staff, administrators and students, met throughout the academic year to discuss strategies for dealing with the high cost of textbooks, which is a national crisis. The task force is charged with develop ing a plan for enacting access and inclusion with course materials. The task force endeavors to identify and implement multiple methods to reduce the cost of purchasing textbooks and other course materials by students at the university. The task force seeks to educate and inform faculty about alterna tive methods of identifying course materials, such as digital, looseleaf, used textbooks, library books and databases, course packs, rental options, open educational resources (OERs), textbooks with access codes and other publishers’ textbook packages. The Associated Students’Textbook Reserve program was born out of this group. The task force talks about publishers’ predatory textbook practices, the benefits and savings from OERs, and compliance with the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008. The task force encourages faculty to submit course materials by the March 1 and October 1 deadlines. Early adoption of textbooks by faculty assists the Torero Store with keeping textbook prices low. The Torero Store’s personnel are an integral part of the task force, and we work closely with them to find the most affordable course materials to assist students in reducing their financial burden.

12 Copley Library | University of San Diego