August 14, 2017
Add your textbooks to course reserves at K-State Libraries
Submitted by Sarah McGreer Hoyt
According to a survey by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit consumer-advocacy organization, seven in 10 college students said they had not purchased a textbook at least once because of cost.
K-State Libraries is proud to tackle this problem by providing a robust, easy-to-use course reserves collection. If you have copies of your course's textbooks or other materials you're willing to put on reserve for your students, please submit that information online.
If you have questions about the process, contact haleres@k-state.edu.
If you don't have copies you can loan, contact the Center for the Advancement of Digital Scholarship at cads@k-state.edu to let the librarians know what textbooks you think the Libraries should invest in for future semesters. Priority will be given to high-enrollment courses.
Finally, if you work with students who aren't familiar with course reserves, especially first-year students, here's a description you might share with them:
- Some instructors put textbooks and other classroom materials on reserve at Library Help so all students can have access to them for free.
- If you want to know if your textbook is on reserves:
- Look in Search It.
- Chat with a librarian online.
- Call Library Help at 785-532-3014.
- Stop by a help desk to ask in person.
- To borrow a textbook, bring your K-State ID and course code to a library help desk to check out reserves material. For example, if you're taking Expository Writing II, you'll want to let the library employee know you need the material for ENGL 200. It's also important to know your instructor's last name.
- You'll be able to borrow the material under the conditions specified by your instructor — usually two hours. Free scanners are available if you want to scan the portion of the text you need.