Textbooks may soon become more affordable for students.
SGA and the Library Student Advisory Council are partnering to establish a textbook checkout program.
"The plan is to place the books on reserve so students can check a book out for a limited time," said Bonnie MacEwan, dean of Auburn University Libraries. "I believe SGA plans to focus on textbooks for core courses, and the number of copies of each book will be limited."
Brad Cink, junior in industrial engineering, got the idea while he was studying abroad in Melbourne, Australia, and brought it back to SGA Senate's Student Interest Committee.
"At the university where I studied, I was able to avoid textbook fees for my four class because the university library provided books," Cink said. "It made me wonder why we are forced into buying $180 books that we use once a week for homework problems or as a test reference."
SGA senators from the College of Science and Mathematics and the College of Liberal Arts are responsible for contacting individual departments within the colleges and requesting textbook donations.
"We targeted these two colleges primarily because the Auburn core classes are almost entirely represented within them," Cink said.
Though letters went out last week and there has been a positive verbal response from the department chairs, Cink said there haven't been any textbooks actually collected yet.
"Depending on the response, we plan to move to a second phase to get the remaining colleges to donate text books for their courses," Cink said.
MacEwan said many students are surprised textbooks aren't already in circulation at the library.
She said the library enjoys working to address student concerns.
"A good example (of addressing student concerns) is the implementation of the extended hours in the library," MacEwan said. "None of us knew the impact of staying open 24 hours, but the students were able to work with us to pilot the idea."
Cink said the program is also designed to give students flexibility when beginning classes.
"Students can wait to see if a textbook is necessary for a class and can purchase a textbook when they are certain they will need it," Cink said.
The library is counting on SGA to secure the books, which they have committed to do.
The library will then cover processing costs and make the books available any time the library is open.
"We're always pleased to ... better serve students," MacEwan said.
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