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K-State Today

January 31, 2019

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, 7 in 10 college students said they had not purchased a textbook at least once because of cost.

K-State Libraries addresses this problem by providing easy-to-use course reserves collection at all of our library help desk locations. In the wake of the Hale Library fire, we created an additional service point in the K-State Student Union. The majority of our course reserves collection can be accessed there, at Library Help in the K-State Student Union, which is on the main floor near Radina's.

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. Then simply drop the materials off at Library Help in the Union. They will be available to students within one week — but often in as little as one day.

If you have questions about the process, contact haleres@k-state.edu.

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 desks so all students can have access to them for free. Here's how to check whether a textbook you need is on reserve:

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.