Faculty Resources and Services: Finding Textbooks
Finding Textbooks: Alternatives to Big Publishers
Finding an appropriate textbook for a course is a difficult and important task. Content is always the most important factor; however, price is becoming an increasingly necessary consideration--students cannot use a book they cannot afford--and textbook prices have skyrocketed to over $200-$400 (or more) in some subject areas.
Accessibility for students with learning and/or other disabilities is another factor that is becoming prominent. Central Penn's ADA Coordinator and the librarians are happy to help in this area.
As most faculty know, there are several major textbook publishers with vast catalogs covering almost every subject and topic, including Cengage, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, and Wiley--these are the homes to most of the $200-$400 books. However, there are a number of smaller publishers, including publishers which produce both textbooks and other types of books and publishers which focus on smaller subject areas, which often have lower-priced textbooks compared to the larger publishers. Almost all publishers, even the small ones, will send faculty examination copies free of charge (some will only provide e-books for this purpose).
Finding Open Textbooks
Textbooks listed in these repositories are available in digital form for free, with no access restrictions, so students will have full access to the content from day one. Please see the OER guide for more information on Open Textbooks and related resources.
- Open Educational Resource 2017 Textbook ListThis is a 42 page PDF document containing a list of open textbooks, grouped by subject, including links. It was compiled by librarians Zachariah Claybaugh and Chelsea Stone, from Sacred Heart University. Made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
- BCcampusA repository of open textbooks, covering a variety of subjects, peer reviewed and adapted by faculty in British Columbia, Canada. Some books have reviews.
- OpenStax CollegeOpenStax, which is affiliated with Rice University, offers textbooks which have been written by experts and peer-reviewed. Subjects include primarily General Education areas, by design, to work with high-enrollment courses. The OpenStax books also have ancillary materials, available to faculty through a password-protected part of the site.
- Open SUNY TextbooksWritten and reviewed by faculty, textbooks at the Open SUNY Textbooks repository cover both general and specific areas in many different subjects.
- Open Textbook LibraryHosted by the University of Minnesota, the books at the Open Textbook Library cover a wide range of subjects and include faculty reviews. "All textbooks are either used at multiple higher education institutions; or affiliated with an institution, scholarly society, or professional organization."
- Saylor Academy Open Textbooks"The great majority of our textbooks are not published by Saylor Academy -- we host and distribute texts that have been authored and published by others." A number of the textbooks available here are digital versions of the older editions of commercially-published textbooks.
Finding Textbooks in Ebook Central
Ebook Central contains over 100,000 ebook titles, and many of those could be used as a course textbook. Some of the books are designed as textbooks (i.e. include pedagogical aids such as chapter summaries and review questions), while others are academic and/or professional discussions of topics.
Chapters from a number of different books could be used as course readings, either in place of a textbook or where a textbook is not necessary.
Anything found in Ebook Central is free for Central Penn students to access. (Some titles do have limits on the number of simultaneous users.) Students are obviously able to purchase print copies if they wish to, and we are able to offer print versions of the Ebook Central titles in the school's online bookstore (for students to use their Financial Aid).
Several courses are currently using Ebook Central content (or have used it in the past), including business, communications, history, legal studies, and IT courses.
Finding Lower-Cost Textbooks
In response to demands from faculty, students, and other stakeholders for lower-cost materials, some commercial publishers have started and/or expanded lines of less-expensive textbooks. Many of these books come with the expected publisher-provided ancillaries, but the retail prices for the books are almost always less than $100.
- Flat World KnowledgeFlat World offers over 100 titles in disciplines including social sciences, humanities, and math. Business books represent the largest share of the catalog. Almost all textbooks start at $29.95 for online access and $54.95 for a printed color textbook. Flat World titles include ancillaries such as test banks and PowerPoints. Flat World also offers faculty the option to customize the content of a textbook (adding, deleting, rearranging) to suit their needs.
- RevelRevel, a fully digital product, is from Pearson. Revel is similar to McGraw-Hill's Connect--it is based on pre-existing Pearson print content (unlike 4LTR Press titles from Cengage). Students pay for access to the online product, and the access varies by subject (currently around $55 to $110), with general education areas being the most represented.
Finding Lower-Cost Textbooks: Smaller Publishers
Many of these publishers also produce general interest titles and/or publish journals, so the prices of their textbooks tend to be closer to $100 (and are often less). Several of these publishers also produce both hardbound and paperback versions of their textbooks--where the paperback versions are less than $100. Some of the textbooks will have ancillaries, but some will not.
- Oxford University PressAlthough based in England, Oxford University Press does publish textbooks designed for the US market in a number of different subject areas. Some books are better classified as academic titles (do not include pedagogical features like chapter summaries and review questions) rather than textbooks, however.
- RoutledgeRoutledge, a division of Taylor & Francis, publishes textbooks for social sciences and humanities subjects. Routledge is based in England, so some of the titles might be more European, international, and/or British in focus.
- Rowman & LittlefieldSubjects are primarily humanities and social sciences.
- SAGE PublishingSAGE textbooks primarily cover the social sciences. Some SAGE books have a European and/or British point of view.
- W.W. NortonWhile W.W. Norton has offerings in a number of subject areas, most of the textbooks are for humanities and some social sciences areas.