Textbooks in Academic Libraries: Selection, Circulation, and Assessment

Textbooks in Academic Libraries: Selection, Circulation, and Assessment

Shortly after the syllabi are posted, and long before the beginning of the term, interlibrary loan departments at academic libraries will have filled or rejected innumerable textbook requests. While it would be unwise if not impossible to buy and circulate every textbook at a college or university, there are many academic libraries who are selectively adding textbooks to their collections. And the practice seems to be gaining momentum. In the new monograph “Textbooks in Academic Libraries: Selection, Circulation, and Assessment,” published by ALA Editions, the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) and editor Chris Diaz gather case studies that pull together creative approaches and best practices for print textbook reserve programs. This book discusses such topics as:
  • results and analysis from a detailed survey of a state university’s core-course textbook reserve program;   
  • funding sources for starting or piloting a program;
  • using aggregated enrollment, grade, and textbook cost data to identify “high impact” courses;
  • identifying course-related books that are in the library’s collection or fit an existing collection policy;
  • workflow for using bookstore data with ILS and purchasing systems; and
  • using LibGuides and Google Sheets to publicize textbook holdings, and how a back-end database supports discovery for students and reporting for reserves staff.

Edited by Chris Diaz, digital publishing services librarian at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

160 pages
6" x 9"
Softcover
ISBN: 978-0-8389-1587-5 
item no.: 978-0-8389-1587-5
softcover $65, ALA members: $58.50
Year Published: 2017 

Available in the online store

ALCTS titles are available though the ALA Editions Approval Plan, Category: TS