Be Book Smart: Information for Faculty

Students are now recommended to set aside the equivalent of 24.5% of their instructional fees for textbooks. Considering the costs of textbooks are increasing at a rapid rate in excess of inflation, this percentage is likely to increase even more and place even more financial pressure on already over-burdened students.

Many instructors remember when textbooks were much more affordable and are already doing their best to help keep costs down for students. Students fully support our instructors’ right to choose their teaching materials. But by working together we can do more to ensure that academic materials remain of a high quality and affordable! Please read on below to see how you can help students!

Tricks and Tips: Publishers’ Tricks and the Ways Around Them:
Trick: Constant edition changes — Drives up prices and removes access to used books, often without adding any real value.
Tip: Ask yourself if an edition change really necessary, or if the old edition work just as well. You can also try to negotiate an edition freeze, which will allow you to keep the same book for multiple years, even if a newer one becomes available.

Trick: Bundling — The cost of developing bundles is absorbed into the book so that publishers can claim the bundles are free.
Tip: If the bundle is of little value, or you won’t be using it, request to purchase only the textbook (unbundled) at a lower cost.

Trick: Failure to provide the price — The price may not be given, or may not reflect the actual cost to students.
Tip: Ask what the price is before you adopt a textbook. When discussing pricing with the publisher’s representative, ask what the actual cost will be to the students. Request the price that the bookstore will be receiving the textbook at.

Trick: Price hikes — When a textbook becomes better established, prices are raised to take advantage of this status. This often causes the instructor to drop the text, or students must buy a significantly more expensive textbook.
Tip: If you plan to teach a course for a few years and to use the same text throughout, negotiate a deal that will put a price freeze on the book.

Trick: Aesthetics — Textbooks are often loaded with glossy, full-colour pages and hard covers to make them more aesthetically pleasing. Naturally, this drives up the price — without adding any academic value.
Tip: Ask if black and white or one-colour editions are available, in soft cover and standard paper where possible. Where full-colour images are needed, consider posting them on the internet as a supplementary source.

Trick: Unsolicited desk copies — Publishers sometimes send “free” copies to market their textbooks, but the cost ultimately goes to students.
Tip: If you receive a textbook that you did not request and have no intention of using, simply refuse to accept it. You can enlist the help of your departmental support staff to refuse or return unsolicited texts that arrive by mail.

More Cost-Saving Tips: Questions to Consider When Selecting Course Materials: