Kansas State University

Save money on textbooks: Access yours for free at K-State Libraries

Submitted by Sarah McGreer Hoyt

Thanks to support from a student excellence grant, K-State Libraries have once again increased the number of textbooks that you can borrow for free from our reserve collection.

If you've never used course reserves, here are the basics:

• Some instructors put textbooks and other classroom materials on reserve at Library Help so all students can have access to them at no cost.
• If you want to know if your textbook is on reserves
• Look in Search It.
• Chat with a librarian at our website.
• 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 check out 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.

If you don't find your textbook, consider asking your instructor if they would be willing to place a copy on reserves. 

You also can 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.