Some campuses are changing up the way students access course materials. Book-buying is dramatically different on many campuses compared with even just a few years ago. And some schools have even done away with their campus bookstore, stopped selling physical books entirely or limited physical book sales, in favor of a digital-based model, in which students can easily and immediately download and read eBooks and other materials.
In the past, college and university students would visit their campus bookstore in the days before and after classes began each semester. After waiting in long lines, they’d buy textbooks and other supplies. Some students also began to look to online sellers or book rental arrangements to get assigned books to avoid the lines and get a break on the price. However, more often than not, the books were still very expensive, and sometimes students found that they only used these costly tomes a few times. Students whose financial aid was slow in coming through might not have been able to purchase books until a week or two into the semester, putting them behind in their studies.
According to research from Student Public Interest Research Groups (Student PIRGs), in 2020, 65 percent of students reported skipping buying a textbook because of cost, despite concerns it will impact their grade. The research also revealed that COVID-19 restrictions raised the barriers students face both financially and technologically to access course materials.
Wichita State University Tech (WSU Tech) recently closed its bookstore, starting a pilot program in 2021 to focus on digital content and courseware. This year, WSU Tech pushed out the program to its full career and technical education (CTE) program students. There is a bookstore at WSU, which students can visit as needed.
“We had outsourced our bookstore to WSU and then transitioned to a fully-no bookstore model,” explains Trish Schmidt, WSU Tech’s Vice President, Instructional and Academic Support.
At the same time, WSU Tech decided to work with BibliU, which offers a Learning Enablement platform that automates learning content workflows and provides digital textbooks and courseware. The school provides BibliU with a list of teacher-assigned books, and the company then creates a relationship with the book publishers and notifies the school of titles they can’t obtain digitally. WSU Tech is responsible for arranging for physical books. Students still save 40 percent to 45 percent on books they have to purchase.
“We eased into the relationship with BibliU, using the offering for just a few courses before expanding it to the broader curriculum, including the professional studies program,” Schmidt points out.
The arrangement with BibliU has netting several significant benefits for both faculty and students, Schmidt says. “The primary benefit is first-day access, and all students have their materials as the semester begins,” she says. “You no longer hear from students about having to wait to purchase books because financial aid hasn’t come through.”