You Spoke: I Wish You Had All of My Textbooks

Welcome to the seventh and last in a series of posts about the LibQual survey results. Today we're talking about textbooks in the library.

One of the comments we received was "I wish you had all of my textbooks!"  It would be lovely if the library could purchase a copy of every textbook used on campus.  Unfortunately we can't do that.  If we did, we would have no money to buy all of the books and journal articles that students and faculty use for their research.

As a general rule, the library doesn't purchase textbooks. Exceptions are made on an individual basis.

So, what to do if you are looking for a textbook in the library?

• Check to see if the professor put a copy on reserve. If you are a faculty member, make sure to put a copy on reserve (see here for the reserve form).
• Check to see if we have a different textbook on the subject. Sometimes we'll have supplemental textbooks that will cover the same topics. This is great for anyone looking for the textbook just to learn more about a subject.
• Check to see if there is an open educational resource (i.e. free online textbook) on the subject. Again, these are great if you are looking for help understanding the subject.      

 Purchasing textbooks is expensive, we know. Hopefully the tips above will help.


If you have questions about the LibQual survey results, please contact Katie Yelinek.