Library works to address skyrocketing textbook prices with free or low-cost access by Clay V. Trainum
What could you have done with an extra $1,000 in college? Would that have covered a rent payment or two? Maybe freed up funds for a car repair you’d put off? Perhaps it would have let you take a little more time off from your job to focus on your classes. Walker Library is working to give students that budgetary wiggle room by offering less-expensive textbook options. Since the 1970s, the cost of textbooks has skyrocketed more than 1,000%. At MTSU, students are expected to budget on average $1,240–$1,440 for books and supplies per academic year. However, the average college student will end up spending $415. Why is this? Often, students go without buying books, or they decide to share—choices that can lead to poorer academic outcomes. Walker Library has targeted this issue over the past two years, initially with the adoption of the Library Textbook Program, which offers textbook checkout for many of MTSU’s General Education classes. It’s a program that has its eyes set on future expansion, but it addresses only a portion of the needs facing today’s students.
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“The Library Textbook Program, as important as it is to us, is only a Band-Aid,” said Suzanne Mangrum, MTSU’s acquisitions librarian. “We’re only able to cover certain classes, and there is a lot that doesn’t get covered. “Students have access to these books, but I wouldn’t call it great access, with it only being three-hour blocks within the building. During the pandemic, that wasn’t ideal. We also try to make sure the library can offer similar services to our online students, but it is often not possible to get e-books for the assigned texts.” Another solution, however, is picking up steam across the University, as evidenced by a recent $100,000 grant from the Tennessee Board of Regents. The grant will establish a pilot program for open educational resources (OER) that ultimately will provide free or low-cost textbooks to MTSU students. “I think there’s always been a group of faculty with a heart for students and who know that some students can’t afford textbooks,” said Mangrum, who serves on the steering committee for the program at MTSU. “There were already some faculty members who were using OER, and you’ll always have some early adopters. But it is a lot of work to create your own curriculum, and it’s not a small amount of work to find the right OER textbook. “There is a lot of good, high-quality work out there, but finding it, downloading it, adapting it, and then saving it in a way that can help your students takes time.”
