Textbook Service book adoption forms are generated by academic departments and are signed by the Chair of the department. Department secretaries provide the direct coordination of new book adoptions.
Contact Textbook Service at 650-3020. We can help determine the availability of texts and supplemental materials, provide contact information for the representative of the major college textbook suppliers, and find out when new texts will be available.
Desk copies are arranged by the department secretary. In some instances Textbook Services provides assistance to the department secretary by loaning texts to the department in unusual circumstances.
Most traditional college texts now have supplemental CD'S, laboratory manuals and other materials. At the discretion of the department we can issue these materials along with the text.
Yes. Adoptions for additional texts for classes require the signature of the Dean. About forty percent of the classes offered at SIUe have more than one textbook issued by Textbook Service.
By policy, early adoptions (getting a new text earlier than the three year adoption period) require the approval of the Provost, who in turn requires a justification memo explaining the benefit of the early replacement of a text.
All undergraduate students, including "seniors with degrees", are assessed a Textbook Service fee based on the number of semester hours of enrollment. Graduate students are not assessed a fee and may not utilize the rental system.
Studies have consistently concluded that having a textbook rental system saves each student several hundred dollars each semester when compared to purchasing and then selling back textbooks.
Undergraduate students never pay more than cost when purchasing texts from Textbook Service and receive an additional discount when texts have been in use for more than one year. There is a discount period during the last three weeks of the term when texts are discounted 30% of retail price if in use for more than one year and 40% if used more than two years. We also sell excess, discontinued texts for a dollar each at various times throughout the year during our "Dollar Book Sale."
Textbook Service began with the inception of the University in 1965. At that time, the Carbondale campus had a textbook rental program so the service was also created at the Edwardsville campus. Eastern Illinois University also has had a textbook rental system in place for many years.
Over 80% of fees collected is spent on the purchase of texts and about 15% is spent on wages, with the remaining spent on various operational expenses.
