Exploring Avenues to Help Health Science Students with Textbook Access via the Library's Electronic Resources

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Title

Charles Conference Issues in Book and Serial Acquisition

Abstract

Facing the high cost of textbooks, many universities are exploring how to lower student textbook expenses. Hence the appearance of Open Education Resources (OER), Inclusive Access (IA), and other means to help students with textbook access.
Many health science libraries have been researching emerging and alternate avenues for providing textbook access to their users, including OER, IA, and using LibGuides, etc.
This poster discusses how to provide “free” textbooks to health science students by using the library’s existing electronic resources and resources demanded by faculty. The authors use several methods to identify the best books for students: 1. Using Doody’s Core Titles, a health science book review service, to identify health science books from the existing electronic resources; 2. Discussing with faculty about whether we already have the books they need; 3. Suggesting alternative books to faculty to use as textbooks; 4. Purchasing unlimited copy licenses of ebooks that are available to libraries to meet faculty demands for textbooks. The textbooks are then put on LibGuides by course or subject for students. As a result, health science students may take advantage of the library resources to reduce their expenses for textbooks. At the same time, it is a great way to promote library resources.

Publication Date

11-7-2018

Department

University Libraries

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