Why Should Librarians Be Involved in Facilitating Access to Content Needed for Courses? (original) (raw)
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Recent efforts to reduce costs for textbooks and other learning materials are now blurring the lines between what is and is not a textbook. Initiatives in California, Georgia, and other states have resulted in libraries rethinking their textbook purchase policies. This case study of California State University, East Bay, an early adopter of the state system's Affordable Learning Solutions, describes the initiative, discusses the impact on the library's collection and its policies, explores unique elements of today's "textbooks," and discusses possibilities for the future.
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Students at U.S. colleges and universities are concerned about the high cost of textbooks. Expansion of library course reserves has been suggested as one solution to this problem. The authors surveyed libraries at public universities to explore the status and management of physical course reserves and the role they play vis-à-vis textbook affordability. Both size and circulation of physical course reserve collections are declining. Despite a large growth in the use of electronic reserves, physical reserves play a significant role in providing textbooks for recommended reading lists. Physical course reserves represent a safety valve for students looking for ways to pay for college in an environment of ever-increasing textbook costs.
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With the rising costs of textbooks, their affordability and accessibility in college and university campuses has emerged as a major financial obstacle for students. This challenge presents an opportunity for academic and research libraries in providing access to textbooks quickly without further straining student financial resources. Textbooks and purchases for course reserves have traditionally been excluded from the majority of academic and research libraries' collection-development policies. Encouraging libraries to re-evaluate and re-strategize this traditional approach to textbook purchasing and course reserves is critical. Embracing more textbooks and expanding the course reserves has the potential to significantly improve user services in learning and teaching across campuses. Ultimately, this evolving role for academic libraries provides another opportunity to demonstrate their value to campus administration and communities.
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ur libraries and universities are continuously adapting, seeking effective ways to respond to the fundamental and interconnected missions of research, teaching, and public service. To name just a few recent shifts: institutions and departments have drafted and adopted student learning outcomes for all graduates of their programs; curricula have evolved to include problem-solving and research-based learning; research projects incorporate various media and take more technological and creative forms; online programs have increased exponentially; and national studies and educational research have informed our understanding of factors that enhance student engagement 1 and result in deeper learning. 2 As institutions respond to these changes, librarians can, and should, offer valuable perspectives and expertise to initiatives such as accreditation planning and strategic goal setting, development of student learning outcomes, design of course management systems, assessment of student learning, and promotion of teaching-effectiveness programs. My focus within the process at Berkeley, and for this article, will be the often under-emphasized educational role of librarians. Responding strategically to economic pressures, many libraries are taking a fresh look at the changing needs of faculty and students and realigning the library's priorities and models to best meet current and future needs. As with many ARL libraries, the University of California, Berkeley has a decentralized library system and a campus with research interests that are both wide and deep; identification of lower priorities or lesser-used functions is neither easy nor obvious. However, the librarian's role as an educational partner is recognized as one area of strategic importance for the long-term vitality of research libraries and the effectiveness of campus teaching and learning initiatives. RLI 265 9