How will I afford my textbooks this semester? Can I pass this course even though I don’t have the book? Is it illegal to download this PDF of the book that I found online?
These are the kinds of questions students ask at the beginning of the semester. The solutions they find are creative. Sometimes a whole group of roommates will share a book. In other cases, they will find a dubious copy for free online. Other times, they skip textbooks entirely. For some students, it’s a matter of buying food or buying books.
UI Libraries and UI Student Government are easing some of this burden with a collaborative project called the Textbook Affordability Pilot (TAP). Under TAP, a committee of library staff and student government representatives collect donated textbooks and purchase new ones for “high impact courses.” These are classes for which the cost of books is high and more than 100 students are enrolled in the course. These books are placed on course reserves in Main Library and the branch libraries for students to use free of charge.
Plans for TAP began in the summer of 2017, when student government approached the Libraries with questions about making textbooks more affordable. The UI Libraries encourages faculty to bypass traditional textbooks where possible by using books from the Libraries’ collection and using open educational resources. The Libraries also keeps copies of some textbooks on course reserve. Despite these efforts, librarians and students realized more could be done.
UISG Director of Academic Affairs, Tristan Schmidt, and Scholarly Communications Librarian, Mahrya Burnett, along with interested colleagues, began to explore the idea of purchasing textbooks and collecting donated copies. There was broad interest on both ends. Eventually, UISG and UI Libraries both allocated funds, totaling $17,000 for the one-year pilot. The committee drafted a set of criteria for books to be included in TAP and identified objectives for success. Then they started buying and collecting books.
As TAP began accepting donations last spring, the response from students was overwhelming. They donated hundreds of books, filling the UISG offices at the IMU. The committee is now working with faculty, students, and librarians to finalize its purchase list in order to get new books processed and on the shelves. TAP aims to have 100 books available for student use through course reserves at the Main Library and several other campus libraries by spring semester 2019. Their hope is to see the program grow over time so that more and more books are available for the students who need them.
For complete information about TAP, visit http://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/TAP
TAP information for students
Can I access my textbooks for free? One easy way to find out whether your textbook is on Course Reserves is to use this simple search tool. Search by course name, instructor, or book title.
TAP information for faculty, instructors, and TAs
Do the textbooks for my course qualify for TAP? Faculty can email LIB-TAP@uiowa.edu to see if their textbooks are TAP eligible.
This year’s Open Access (OA) theme (2018): “Designing Equitable Foundations for Open Knowledge” is especially relevant to a project our team recently published in an OA journal. As a University of Iowa graduate student in the College of Public Health, I worked closely with Assistant Professor Kelly Baker, PhD, and her extensive international network to develop a thesis project conducted in an internally displaced persons (IDP) community in Corail, Haiti. The community was established as part of the 2010 earthquake relief effort. Reflective of IDP communities worldwide, Corail has become a permanent residence for many families. Yet, residences face unsanitary and unsafe conditions due to a lack of permanent sanitation infrastructure and access to waste management services. The goal of the thesis project was to evaluate young children’s exposure to environmental hazards during play in public neighborhood areas that contain deteriorated latrines, trash, free-roaming animals, and open drainage canals.
JEIRAN HASAN is a graduate student pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts in flute performance and pedagogy. She works at the Rita Benton Music Library. Hasan assists students, faculty, and researchers with a wide variety of questions. “When I began working in 2014, I had no idea how much the library would change my life,” she says. “The most interesting aspect of working in the library is the interactions I encounter with students from different backgrounds and interests. With my familiarity in Turkish, Farsi, Arabic, Russian, and Azerbaijani, I have been able to assist international patrons and patrons interested in ethnomusicology.”
CLARICE KELLING is a senior majoring in education with a minor in theatre. She works at the Main Library in Access Services (Service Desk and Circulation). Kelling helps reshelve materials and assists patrons at the Service Desk in the Main Library. Kelling began working at the library her freshman year. “Working here has helped me gain knowledge about libraries. As a future educator, I need to be able to find sources easily as well as help others search and handle various materials for their academic goals,” she says. “At the Main Library, I have the opportunity to practice this while also gaining inside knowledge about how libraries aid in education no matter the grade.”
MELISSA LAUER is a sophomore with a triple major in English, creative arts, and studio arts, with a minor in history. She works in Conservation and Preservation. Lauer mends and preserves books at the Main Library, where she “maintains the integrity and availability of the library’s circulating and non-circulating collections, caring for the materials that make the library the invaluable resource that it is. [Working in] the conservation lab has seamlessly united my majors in English and Creative Writing and Studio Arts and minor in History, deepening my appreciation of the physical book, my understanding of its content, and my love of the historic connection that the books I heal perpetuate.”
ELIZABETH RIORDAN is a graduate student pursuing a Master of Arts in library and information science. She works at the Main Library in Special Collections. Riordan feels fortunate to have landed in Special Collections at the UI Libraries. “When I enter work at Special Collections, I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have let the unexpected take me to where I am now,” she says. Riordan supports research through the rich narratives available in Special Collections—the kind of narratives that deepen our understanding of history and allow researchers to interact with source materials in ways that reveal the stories of past eras and help us understand our path forward.
