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Although accounting professors around the globe have addressed various social aspects of accounting, very rarely does that research address the concerns of students. This is despite the fact that students are the focus of the educational mission of most universities. In an effort to address this gap, this chapter extends the field of social accounting to an issue critical to students: the cost of accounting textbooks in the United States. Textbook cost is drawing increasing attention from public interest groups and government regulators as costs are growing at a more rapid rate than many other costs, and constitute a significant portion of the total cost of obtaining a higher education degree. For accounting students, these costs are exacerbated by the fact that accounting textbooks are among the most expensive of any major, and they are being revised with increasing frequency – which eliminates students’ ability to buy less expensive used books – often with little or no discernible benefit to students. We argue that in some subfields of accounting – especially managerial/cost and introductory courses – topics are relatively stable, and that frequent textbook revisions are unnecessarily costly for our students, many of whom, along with their families, are making significant financial sacrifices to earn their degrees. In this study, we provide background on the textbook pricing issue, include data from a survey of accounting faculty demonstrating that they consider the revisions too frequent, document the increasing frequency of accounting textbook revisions over recent decades, analyze content in a leading accounting textbook, and discuss options for reducing the cost of accounting textbooks, including following student activists’ lead in advocating for open-source, free textbooks.

This study aims to describe a project that aims to give students a choice to complete their general education requirements without purchasing a textbook.

In total, 26 faculty, teaching in the new general education curriculum, at Central Washington University were given stipends to eliminate expensive textbooks and use free to the student resources such as open educational resources (OER) or library resources. The data was collected on student savings and student and faculty satisfaction with the program.

Many paths were created through the general education curriculum, so a student may easily finish these requirements without purchasing a textbook. The data from this case study coincide with the literature on the subject. Faculty found it fairly easy to replace their required textbooks with pedagogically sound, free resources. Students were relieved to have some financial relief and found the resources to be good. The student’s biggest complaint was that faculty often use very small portions of expensive required textbooks.

This is a case study and the results are limited as such. This is one university and one general education curriculum. Also, if an academic library wants to replicate this case study, some funding is required.

Students struggle financially and alleviating the costs of textbooks is one-way librarians can ease that burden.

Students struggle financially and alleviating the costs of textbooks is one-way librarians can ease that burden.

There have been some case studies written about OER, where 8 or 10 courses are replaced. There are studies written about zero-textbook-cost degrees at community colleges, but this case study explores a textbook-cost-free general education program at a state university.

For the past several years, libraries have been evolving. The traditional academic library housed print collections and provided space for studying, usually quiet space. With the advances in technology, libraries have had their own metamorphosis. No longer are they constrained by a physical space – they now have virtual spaces, which include virtual collections.

During this same time, the cost of higher education and textbooks has been on the rise. Universities and the federal government have enacted policies and laws in an effort to combat these rising costs. In support of the students and affordable textbook initiatives, libraries have become partners in helping lower the cost of textbooks for students through either purchasing them electronically or other means, such as course reserves. Indeed, a single library purchase can now provide course materials for an entire class.

This chapter will present an overview of the Affordable Learning Georgia Initiative and how the Georgia Tech Library has updated their collection development policies to support this initiative.

This paper aims to explain the concept of Open Educational Resources (OER) and how libraries can make a good case to donors to fund these types of projects.

The literature reveals that donors have been willing to support projects that save students money on textbooks. Course reserves have traditionally been a popular model. More recently, libraries have found funding for OER initiatives. These types of initiatives are discussed and several case studies of donors currently funding OER projects are examined.

Donors, internal and external to the library and to the university, have shown an interest in funding projects that reduce textbook costs for students. They have funded course reserves in the past and have begun to fund OER projects. There are both qualitative and quantitative methods to induce donors to fund these types of projects.

Libraries have traditionally supported the mission of access to information and for academic libraries that has sometimes included access to textbooks. Course reserves are a limited solution, whereas when an OER replaces an expensive textbook, it is a viable solution for all students.

OERs have strong social implications. Any person, whether associated with an institution of higher learning, or not, can access the information in an OER and learn the associated content.

There is some literature on specific OER projects. This paper aims to fill a gap in the literature, specifically on how to approach donors regarding OER initiatives.

The cost of course materials to the individual student has increased over the past decade, contributing to educational inequity. Open educational resources (OERs) may be a solution and research validates their positive impact on student success outcomes (Colvard et al., 2018; Feldstein et al., 2012). Few studies, however, examine the role that library collections play in addressing course materials cost and student success. This paper aims to investigate whether materials costs are a significant factor in course pass rate and whether the library has a positive impact on pass rates.

Using required texts listed in syllabi for select undergraduate courses at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), the authors compare course materials costs for each course to the pass rate. The authors then measure the impact of course materials cost on the achievement gap between Pell Grant eligible and non-eligible students.

This study confirms previous research indicating that reduced course materials costs have a measurable impact on student success, in that the total minimum cost of required materials has a statistically significant effect on the percentage of students who pass a course. However, course reserves slightly increase the disparity between high-income and low-income students, suggesting that course reserves are a less effective way of supporting the latter compared to OERs.

This study is unique in examining the effect of the cost of course materials on students, regardless of the source of cost reductions. Most literature focuses on the qualitative efficacy of OERs instead of measured impact or the relationship between the cost of course materials and student success. The authors investigate the connection between OERs, library engagement and student success.

The cost of textbooks continues to rise for college students along with the cost of tuition. These costs can impact student success. In response to the rising costs, higher education institutions have started affordability initiatives. These initiatives are frequently housed in academic libraries. Joyner Library at East Carolina University (ECU) addresses affordability through three initiatives: Course-Adopted Textbook program, Alternative Textbook Mini-Grant program and Streaming Video licensing.

This paper will explore the above-mentioned three programs in-depth and perform a sustainability analysis on each program.

After reviewing the affordability initiatives discussed in the case study, the authors found that there were varying degrees of sustainability for the programs.

ECU is not alone in addressing affordability through multiple initiatives, and this case study paper will address long-term sustainability of these initiatives, especially during a time when libraries are experiencing shrinking budgets.

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how an academic library can use a library-led, public, positive, and broad faculty gratitude campaign to help a campus embrace a culture of open education.

Using a literature review of faculty outreach efforts in the area of open education and an examination of the psychology of persuasion, this library developed a gratitude campaign that consisted of a faculty video, letters from the provost, signed cards from students, door hangers, and the delivery of swag bags to faculty offices.

While it is challenging to assess how much an initiative may have changed campus culture, initial responses to the gratitude campaign have been overwhelmingly positive. In addition, it cost little or nothing to develop the campaign and materials can be reused in future events and initiatives.

Changing campus culture, maintaining momentum in a program with limited funding, and reaching reluctant faculty are all challenges for open education initiatives. Initiating a gratitude campaign can begin to address all of these by being public, positive, and inclusive. This case study describes how a campus could adopt any or all of the gratitude campaign strategies and it includes openly licensed examples, templates, and models for readers to use.

Open education and affordability efforts that use presentations, grant programs, and awards are common on academic campuses. However, when funding is tight or these efforts fail to reach new audiences, a gratitude campaign can make inroads where these traditional efforts are limited.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design, creation and outcome of a pilot project to provide additional course reserve materials to students. The goals of the project include off-setting the rising costs of higher education and providing equitable access to materials.

This case study describes the process of library staff co-creating a workflow to efficiently identify, order and process print and electronic books for 100 and 200 level courses at a small, private university. The project was influenced by an exploration of library services in the context of library ethics. The authors evaluate the impact of the project and determine continued need after a two-year pilot.

This paper demonstrates the usefulness of the course reserves service in providing accessible and cost-effective resources. Increased usage of course reserve materials by students, along with a reduction in money spent over time by the library to support the service, has resulted in a program that is deemed viable to continue and potentially expand.

This paper seeks to address the added challenges often placed on low-income college students in accessing, paying for and using assigned course materials. Libraries can use course reserves to enhance student success by providing them with an alternate to purchasing course materials.

The project addresses constraints of cost, staff time and cross-departmental workflows in managing a course reserves program at a small university and provides a template for other libraries to use.

In this chapter we report findings from a quantitative and qualitative pilot study of students from a single university setting in the northeastern United States. The majority of participants were enrolled in either face-to-face or online sections of a business course in organizational behavior, and the textbook modality included both open (PDF) and proprietary (CourseSmart) digital formats. The key research questions focus on the degree to which students feel satisfied with electronic textbooks (e-textbooks). We also explore correlates of students’ satisfaction and their positive attitudes regarding the functionality of the use of e-textbooks by examining the impact of prior coursework and students’ concurrent use of other Internet sites, e.g., social media networks, while reading e-textbooks. Specifically, we explore the extent to which students’ positive attitudes toward the functionality of e-textbook use is sufficient to result in students’ engagement. Engagement is measured via their intentions to buy additional e-textbooks in the future, their course grades, and their perceptions of comprehension of the material over time. Students’ overall satisfaction with the e-textbook is likewise explored to determine impact on the same measures of engagement.

Technology is changing the use of textbooks in higher education. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of offering multiple textbook formats in the same economics course using textbooks that provided multiple options including new and used printed books, as well as electronic books.

The study is based on a survey conducted in nine sections of introductory economics classes at a public US university. The study took place within the confines of undergraduate courses that offered textbooks with multiple available formats. A survey collected information about the format each student selected, the factors that students considered when choosing the format, and their overall attitudes about their selection at the end of the semester. Demographic information was also recorded.

The paper finds that students selected a variety of textbook options and identified the factors of cost, ease of use, and learning style as most important to their textbook format decision. Students overwhelmingly support the value of offering choice in textbook formats. In examining student selections further, the paper finds that among students that select an electronic textbook, cost is the dominant factor, while students selecting a new printed textbook mention their learning style and ease of use more often. Students that selected a used printed textbook identified cost, ease of use, and the ability to keep the textbook as factors important to them.

This study provides evidence on the impact of having multiple textbook format options within the same course. Overall, the results suggest that the student population has diverse preferences and any uniform policy on textbook format selection may not satisfy the needs of all student groups. Furthermore, students themselves recognize the diversity in learning styles and see value in having options in textbook format selection.