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*Subject: * RE: Having Reserves of ALL textbooks at College Library?
*From: * "Karen Mokrzycki" <kmm_at_ucsc.edu>
*Date: * Tue, March 10, 2009 3:19 pm
Very interesting question! And one that places the student's needs at the
center, where they should be! Please summarize responses to the list.
We do not collect textbooks for our collection, though occasionally some
grad level texts merit purchase if they treat a subject comprehensively and
occasionally undergrad texts are acquired or added through the reserves
process, but given our budget and space constraints we generally do not
purchase.
Karen Mokrzycki
Preservation and Collection Planning
University Library (1364 McHenry)
University of California
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
kmm@ucsc.edu<https://secure.ibiblio.org/webmail/src/compose.php?send_to=kmm%40ucsc.edu>
831-459-2021
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*Subject: * RE: Having Reserves of ALL textbooks at College Library?
*From: * gelleska_at_FARMINGDALE.EDU
*Date: * Tue, March 10, 2009 3:29 pm
We are in our first semester of a pilot project.
Until this semester, our library had a policy of NOT buying textbooks
with our monograph acquisitions budget. We had a sizeable collection
on reserve that was largely made up of faculty donations (permanent or
temporary). We did occasionally buy a textbook w/o realizing it was
one of the required ones, but not frequently. Those were placed upon
reserve only if a faculty member requested it. Most of our circulating
textbooks are left-over reserve books, older editions, duplicates,
etc.
We have had demands from staff and students for years for textbooks,
but couldn't justify spending such large sums on books with such short
shelf lives.
Then our Auxiliary Services Corporation (ASC) on campus decided to
spend their surplus on a textbook purchasing program. Rather than
buying every textbook this first semester of the pilot project, they
decided to buy at least 1 copy of every book for which the campus
bookstore charged over $150. If the book was used in courses that had
over a certain number of students enrolled, they purchased more than 1
copy. It turned out to be 54 titles; about 11 have more than 1 copy,
so we have approx 65 volumes as part of this project.
We priced the titles with our 2 main vendors, and the campus Barnes
and Noble. Our vendors came in with the lowest prices, but ASC decided
to purchase from the campus bookstore anyway (good relationship
builder), and they did give a discount off the price charged to
students.
We cataloged these books as regular gifts, as they will go into
circulation when they are superseded at reserve.
In order to make sure the campus bookstore still sold some books, it
was suggested that we not do a hard marketing of this project until
the first few days of classes (giving students who COULD afford the
books the time to buy them). However, before the semester began, I
sent emails with title lists to every professor and all members of a
department that was using one of the books that was part of the
project. The bookstore had provided us with the course number that
went with each book.
We then sent an email blast to all student email accounts and the
project was announced at campus faculty meetings and on our website.
The collection is hugely popular, and made the first week of classes a
VERY different experience for librarians. In the past, our most
frequently asked question "Do you have my textbook?" was usually
answered with "unfortunately, no." Now we can happily say "YES!" to
many students.
Benefits:
* We can say we have all of the EXPENSIVE textbooks.
* We get students in to use these textbooks that might otherwise not
enter the library.
* Our reserve use stats are up.
* I'd suspect that photocopy profits are up.
* ASC gets to look like the hero.
* Some students are in classes using two or more of these high-cost
books. As each book costs at least $150, those students saved over
$300 each.
Drawbacks:
* Will funding from ASC continue? If you get a grant, is it a 1 shot
or on-going?
* Some students were under the impression that we had EVERY book,
regardless of cost.
* The Reserves/Circ department decided to keep this collection
separate from our other reserve materials. This may not be the best
way to handle it.
* Will the bookstore see sales drop to the point that they are no
longer cooperative about sharing lists? The title/course info could be
obtained other ways, but it was very nice to have their cooperation.
* Finding room at Reserve for all the new books!
Karen Gelles
Greenley Library, Farmingdale State College, SUNY
(3)----------------------------------------------------
*Subject: *RE: Having Reserves of ALL textbooks at College Library?
*From: *Charles I. Guarria <Charles.Guarria_at_liu.edu>
*Date: *Wed, March 11, 2009 11:00 am
We don't purchase textbooks. If they are donated they get evaluated as
any other book would. My question: What happens if you get the grant
this year, buy the texts, but don't get the grant in the future? The
students get used to the library having the texts and then you can't
deliver with the latest edition after that.
Chuck Guarria
Library Chairperson
Assistant Professor
Long Island University
Brooklyn Campus Library
Acquisitions Department
One University Plaza
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Ph: (718) 780-4181
Fax (718) 780-4027
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*Subject: *RE: Having Reserves of ALL textbooks at College Library?
*From: *Cynthia Hsieh <chsieh_at_PACIFIC.EDU>
*Date: *Wed, March 11, 2009 7:06 pm
Back in my time with my former employer, a for-profit higher education
institution, we did try to have one copy of all the required textbooks
on reserve. To us, money was not the issue; it was the agreement the
institution had with the 3rd-party operated bookstore. We were
fortunate to be able to persuade the bookstore that it would not
impact their sales. As a result, we only allowed textbooks to be used
in the library for 1 to 3 hours at a time. We did allow overnight
checkout one hour before the library closed and the item needed to be
returned before the library opened the next day. In addition, as part
of the deal, we actually purchased all the textbooks directly from the
bookstore (with 10% discount of the listing price).
Hope the above information helps.
Cynthia Hsieh
Univ. of Pacific Library
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*Subject: RE - *Prescribed Textbook purchases
*From: *Nanette Sweetser <NSWEETSE_at_usc.edu.au>
*Date: *Wed, March 11, 2009 8:09 pm
We buy one copy only of all prescribed texts as a matter of high
priority -but one copy only as students are expected to purchase it.
We aim to have them on-shelf in Reserve (not to be borrowed out of the
Library) by Day One of the Semester. This means all students have
access to their required textbook at all times. They can photocopy a
chapter if they can’t afford to purchase it yet. This purchase has
also been used as a Key Performance Indicator for the Library (that's
how important we think it is).
At least one copy of each recommended reading is also purchased by the
Library as Priority One. More copies of recommended readings are
purchased according to enrolment numbers (up to three copies
currently). We figure these are important for them to have access to
for their assignments, so these are also Priority One purchases for
the Library budget.
Lecturers' requests to support teaching (not prescribed textbooks or
recommended readings) that are going into the general collection for
loaning out are Priority two. Lecturer's requests to develop the
collection are Priority Three. Selections made by Library staff to
develop the collection and respond to the information needs of the
clientele (including requests received from clientele) are Priority
Four.
Hope this helps,
Nan
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*Subject: *RE: Having Reserves of ALL textbooks at College Library?
*From: *Parker, Karen S <Karen.S.Parker_at_lonestar.edu>
*Date: *Mon, March 16, 2009 3:01 pm
We have the same problem at my Community College. For about 4 years I
was in charge of a program funded by Perkins Grants where financial
aid students could check out their textbooks for the semester. The
problem was maintaining a current collection. Textbooks changed
editions so quickly that often a book was used for a single year
before it was outdated. Often I did not know the professor was
requiring the new edition until the semester had started, which made
it difficult to get that edition for the students.
Karen
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 8:17 PM
Subject: Having Reserves of ALL textbooks at College Library?
We have a continual problem at my Community College of students not
getting financial aid checks until the 3rd or 4th week of a term. For
many, that means they cannot buy textbooks for the first weeks of the
class.
Our library has some texts on reserve, but it is higgledy-piggledy. We
are investigating writing a grant to purchase a single copy of every
required text that we do not already have, and promoting it as ”The
Library has every required book.” We think this would promote use, and
help with student success and retention.
Do any of you have a policy, or experience with similar projects?
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Received on Fri Mar 27 2009 - 20:20:04 EDT