Helping Keep the Costs of Textbooks for Students Down: Two Approaches

Abstract

Librarians at East Carolina University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro received a 2-year grant to support a combined alternative textbook project. This project engages in a two-pronged approach to reduce students’ textbook costs and increase their academic engagement. One strategy is to award departmental faculty mini-grants to use materials that would have no cost to their students, including OER or library resources. The second strategy is to identify required texts that the library already owns or can purchase as unlimited-user e-books. Benefits to students include reduced costs and an increased opportunity for engagement and academic success.