A quick reminder that our public statement on etextbooks remains valid. You can refer community members to it as needed, if they’re asking about the Library providing ebook versions of textbooks from the publishers listed in the statement (e.g., Pearson, Cengage, Oxford). People are always welcome to use the public Recommend a Purchase form of course, but with commercial textbooks, although CSU will investigate, we can already anticipate that there won’t be a library ebook option.
We released this statement in Fall 2020 when course materials rooms were closed due to the pandemic. Since then, there have been no major expansions in commercial etextbook availability for library collections. In fact, one of the most noteworthy etextbook stories reflects an ongoing shift in the opposite direction — we have begun to see the impact of Pearson’s 2019 decision to cease publication of print textbooks. When a publisher no longer produces print textbooks, and their electronic textbooks can be leased only by individual people, then libraries have no way to acquire them. This means that libraries are prevented from helping to alleviate costs for students in courses where such textbooks are assigned.