Faculty: 4 Tips for Making Textbooks More Affordable for Your Students

Posted December 17, 2025 in Featured News, General Collections News, JMU Libraries News, Open Education News

Faculty, if it feels too late to find open and affordable materials for your course or create your own for the spring semester, there are other easy ways you can make course materials more affordable for your students!

students jumping in front of rose library, happy that their textbooks are affordable

1. Find out if the library has a copy

If we have a copy of your assigned text, you can link to it in Canvas or your syllabus.

Screenshot of Library Search Interface, highlighting Permalink button as the first option under the heading called "Send to."

2. Limit checkout times on our high-demand books

Use this form to limit checkout times to 4 hours or 4 days through Course Reserves. This allows more students to use the same library book.

3. Ask us to digitize your text

Upon request, we can digitize some items for students to use through Digital Course Reserves.

4. Let students use an older edition

You may be able to cut textbook costs in half by allowing students to use an earlier version. If you only need one chapter from the newest edition, we may be able to scan it for you to share with your class.

Learn more

These are just some of our 11 Easy Ways to Make Textbooks More Affordable for Your Students.