The Library Student Advisory Board is collecting unwanted textbooks for the Textbooks on Reserve program at the University Library.
The students are partnering with Student Government to collect donations by tabling from 1-4 p.m. Dec. 17 in Atwood Memorial Center and from 1-4 p.m. Dec. 18 in the University Library. Those interested in donating books can also donate at a collection bin outside Student Government next week or at the circulation desk in the University Library.
Textbooks on Reserve is a program that makes donated textbooks available for students to use on a two-hour reserve in the library.
The program was launched this fall with more than 120 textbooks donated by students last spring as an initiative by Student Government. Textbook affordability was initiative of the group last year, and they worked with the Library to add the items to the reserve system, which allows students to check out textbooks in two-hour intervals. In fall 2019 the program had the potential to support 5,316 student seats in 210 course sections.
The Library messages students at the beginning of the semester if they are taking a course that corresponds with a book available in their system.
The idea is that students can help one another by donating books they no longer need or want so that other students can benefit, said Salbata Ghimire, Library Advisory Board member and former Student Government Student Services and Sustainability chair.
Ghimire has both donated and checked out textbooks from Textbooks on Reserve and said it is helpful to have access to books especially for goal area courses that a student isn’t as likely to need to reference in future courses.
“Let’s help each other,” she said. “Buying textbooks is hard for college students, so if we can help each other — why not.”
Textbooks on Reserve is just one initiative by the University Library to assist with textbook affordability. The Library is also working with professors through a grant to explore open source materials as an option for classroom materials in their curriculum.
