‘Baby Steps’ to Reduce Textbook Costs

"Like many institutions, the University of Utah is seeking ways to reduce textbook and course material costs for its 29,000 students. One thing is clear: Students aren’t buying as many textbooks at the campus bookstore. In just three years, textbook sales fell from $8 million to $4 million during the 2016-17 academic year, and the bookstore director Dan Archer said sales will continue to tumble.

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In 2014, a Utah Faculty Senate committee conducted a six-month study of textbook and material costs; the top two recommendations were for faculty members to assign older books or to use OER. The report also said that the university needed a group on campus to help professors streamline the process of finding and implementing course materials.

That year, the Course Material Services Team was organized; it is made up of staff members from the library, bookstore, print and mail services department, Teaching and Learning Technologies, and the registrar’s office – people who have expertise working with publishers and other course materials providers and understand the importance of lowering textbook and material costs, Mower said."