Projects Arising from the Textbook Affordability Committee

1) Affordable Curriculum Today (ACT) was a three pronged program to support faculty in their efforts to reduce the cost of course materials. Faculty received support from the Libraries and the Center for eLearning to Adopt, Adapt, or Author low or no-cost course materials. The program was discontinued in the spring of 2019 but the Libraries continue to assist faculty with identifying open educational resources or library-licensed content that they can use for their courses in lieu of traditional textbook materials.

2) The Libraries have developed an online tool that allows students to check to see which courses have textbooks on Reserve for free checkout. The tool also identifies electronic course materials available to FAU students at no cost. That tool is available from the Libraries new home page at https://library.fau.edu/ under Services. The direct link to the guide is at: https://libguides.fau.edu/textbooks-Fall2018

3) The Libraries used money from a Technology Fee proposal to purchase an electronic database of textbooks.

4) Another related committee is looking at products that will allow students to receive a substantial discount to textbooks if they "opt in" to the program.