EMU Credit Union and EMU faculty help students with text expenses.

Using a $2500 sponsorship from the EMU Credit Union and $2400 in donations from EMU faculty members, the Library was able to purchase 32 e-book titles assigned in 2018 courses that students can read online for free with their EMU NetID. Since many of the titles will continue to be assigned in future semesters, the e-books will continue to benefit students. Thank you to our sponsor and donors!

Many EMU students struggle to afford textbooks. The EMU Library does not provide most textbooks. However, Library faculty are looking for ways to help where possible. The EMU Library Textbook Affordability Initiative works to improve student access to free or more affordable course reading materials.   

Donate to the EMU Library Textbook Affordability Initiative

More about e-books for course use:

Some of the titles provided are one-person-at-a-time e-books which work like a book on reserves that can be accessed from home and when the library is closed. If a single-user book is in use, a student may have to try again later. In many cases, the library was able to obtain an unlimited version e-book, where students will never get a busy signal or a 3-user version. Most library e-books allow only limited amounts of printing, but a few of the e-books purchased in this project allow students to print or download PDFs of all chapters. The Library also owns some library e-book versions of other course assigned titles, which can be found in Esearch. Unfortunately, most books assigned in classes are not offered by the publishers in a library e-book form.

Some EMU instructors are making use of open textbooks, which are free online. Library faculty have created a tool that makes it easy to search for open texts.  Faculty and lecturers who want to learn more about alternatives can contact their subject librarian or the Textbook Affordability Initiative coordinator, Kate Pittsley-Sousa.