Here's a way to cut textbook costs: Check them out from the MSU library

EAST LANSING — Michigan State University Libraries don’t want to see students drop out of classes because they can't afford the textbooks.

And so, in the last year alone, the library has purchased nearly $20,000 worth of textbooks for more than 20 different MSU courses, ranging from math and chemistry to human nutrition.

Multiple copies of those textbooks will be on reserve at the MSU Main Library and the William C. Gast Business Library. 

Some of the textbooks cost hundreds of dollars new. Checking them out from the library is free, though students won't be able to take them home.

“We are really excited about not just saving students money, but also ensuring they have access to the textbooks they need to succeed in their courses at MSU,” said Heidi Schroeder, MSU Libraries accessibility coordinator, in an email.

The 2019-20 school year marks the second year of the program.

Interested students can scan the list of textbooks available for checkout during the semester and check the textbooks out at either the main library or the business library, using them in the building for a typical checkout time of two hours, she said.

They started in the fall of 2018 by offering 16 different titles. They increased the collection to 35 in the spring and Schroeder expects to see 20 to 40 titles offered this semester.

MSU Libraries staff spent almost $20,000 from a collections budget to buy textbooks in the last year alone, saving students from buying expensive books, like a $314.25 organic chemistry textbook.

Leaving it on the shelf

Many students simply won’t buy the expensive textbooks, regardless of the ramifications on their grades.

Two thirds of the 22,000 students at Florida’s public universities said they chose not to buy textbooks because of the exorbitant cost, according to a 2016 Florida Virtual Campus Office of Distance Learning and Student Services study.

Nearly 38% of those students said they received a poor grade for the class and 19.8% failed.

“It’s more than textbooks but access to materials in the course,” said MSU University Librarian Joseph Salem. “It could make or break whether the student succeeds in that course.”

Students haven’t seen much relief. The U.S. General Accountability Office in 2013 reported that college textbook costs jumped by 82% from 2002 to 2012.

Getting the word out

Letting students know the option exists is an ongoing task.

Some students did take advantage of the program. Some books were checked out more than 100 times in a semester. Two books assigned to a fall 2018 chemistry class had more than 750 checkouts, according to the library.

MSU Libraries officials continue spreading the word through fliers pinned up around campus, asking faculty to advise their students about the textbook option, meeting with student groups, promoting in libraries and talking to students at the beginning of class, Schroeder said.

“We’re really trying to get the word out, so students know it’s there,” she said.

Of the 244 students who responded to a library survey in late April and early May, 68% said having access to the textbooks at no cost was “extremely useful” and 16% said it was “somewhat useful.”

“I LOVE IT!!!!” wrote one student taking an upper-level management and marketing course. “It's so nice to not have to spend hundreds of dollars on a book that you may only need a couple of times throughout a semester, and just be able to rent it out when you need it at no cost.”

Another student, this one enrolled in chemistry and sociology courses, said the program “was extremely helpful and I would love it if you guys included more textbooks in the future.”

MSU Libraries staff members are on it.  

They are working with the MSU registrar’s office to identify the courses with the largest enrollment numbers and target the assigned textbooks from those classes as candidates for the program. It helps if every section uses the same book.

From there, Schroeder said, they have to make sure they have multiple copies of the textbook available.

“We know one textbook for a math class with 1,000 people won’t be enough,” she said.

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Contact Mark Johnson at 517-377-1026 or at majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.