A year’s worth of textbooks typically costs $700 to $1,000 – about 22 percent of tuition at senior colleges at The City University of New York and about 32 percent of tuition at CUNY’s community colleges, according to University Librarian Curtis L. Kendrick. He notes that the price of books is particularly burdensome to CUNY students, 38 percent of whom come from families with household incomes of less than $20,000.
Goal: To offset the rise in tuition
As part of CUNY’s $10 million Student Financial Aid Initiative prepared by Chancellor Matthew Goldstein and approved by the CUNY Board of Trustees, the University targeted $2 million for campuses to buy textbooks. Much of the coordination was initiated by the late Vice Chancellor for Budget and Finance Ernesto Malave.
The goal was to help offset the modest rise in tuition voted by the Legislature. By the end of November 2009, the almost 5,300 books that were purchased under this initiative had circulated 87,741 times. The funds came with guidelines, encouraging college libraries to:
- Put titles on reserves or make them available as “reference materials.”
- Purchase multiple copies as warranted.
- Consider “rental” options.
- Consider “e-textbooks.”
- Select books appropriate for undergraduates at the campus.
- Choose books that support current students and the current curriculum.
- Work collaboratively to investigate systemwide licensing opportunities.
Campuses use funds to order books to place on reserve
Campuses generally used the funds to order books to place on reserve, Kendrick said. These represent high-use items that are most in demand and that most directly support the curricula. Campuses also bought reference materials to support students writing papers and conducting research. He said the books span the full range of disciplines and tend to be multiple copies of high-demand textbooks, copies of all readings required for general education classes and readings required for selected upper-division courses.
The future
Looking to the future, Kendrick said that in addition to purchasing print textbooks, CUNY is exploring electronic book options. That could make tens of thousands of electronic books available to students and faculty on campus, as well as from their homes and office. He added that CUNY had established a committee to evaluate e-book proposals and had invited in a group of vendors for detailed discussions.
He noted that the New York State Textbook Access Act, which took effect on July 1, 2009, requires colleges to adopt policies that encourage faculty members to place their book orders early enough to enable bookstores to obtain the requested materials in used or digital formats, if available. At the federal level, a provision of the Higher Education Opportunity Act taking effect on July 1, 2010, requires that colleges disclose online ISBN and retail price information; CUNY is moving toward compliance.
Editorial Note: This story was edited from the CUNY Newswire.
