Academic librarians tend to be conservative. We cling to comfortable, traditional practices. Historically, academic libraries have not collected textbooks as they have been seen primarily as a student's responsibility to purchase. There are, however, exceptions and they are the focus of Textbooks in Academic Libraries: Selection, Circulation and Assessment. Rising higher education costs means access to education worldwide is becoming less equitable. In particular, textbooks are increasingly unaffordable for many students. Editor Chris Diaz (digital publishing services librarian at Northwestern University) argues convincingly that libraries can help bring down costs for students through textbook reserve programs. He points out such programs also bring wider benefits to the student as well as the institution: providing a print textbook reserve program can improve student recruitment, retention and success.This collection of nine case studies aims to: 'pull together creative approaches and best practices for fomalizing, promoting, and managing print textbook reserve programs'. Although diverse, all are institutions in the United States. However, textbook affordability in higher education is a worldwide concern and certainly pertinent to Australia. All chapters are well written and carefully step the reader through the way each library has approachedthe challenge of rising cost of textbooks by selectively adding them to their collections. Interestingly, many of these programs were funded, at least in part, with partners beyond the library such as student unions or government. Rather surprisingly, given our increasingly digital world, all chapters focus on print collections although a few authors raise the question of e-textbooks, and there are some brief references to the possibilities of Open Educational Resources (OERs).
展开▼
