Guest Post by the Open Education Group at Temple University Libraries.
Why the Libraries Provide Textbooks
The Libraries are dedicated to helping students save on educational costs by promoting textbook affordability. One key initiative is our commitment to purchasing ebook copies of required and recommended course texts whenever possible, ensuring these resources are freely available to Temple students.
In the 2024-25 academic year, library-licensed etextbooks saved students an estimated $659,000.
Use our Etextbooks Available Through the Libraries page to find your course and see if your textbook is on the list! We also recommend looking for the Course Reserves tab in Canvas to see if your instructor has made other course materials available to you via the library.
Challenges in Providing Electronic Textbooks
The number of ebooks that the Libraries acquire each semester varies, as not all textbooks are available in electronic format. Textbook publishers such as Pearson or Cengage usually do not license ebooks to libraries. In 2024-25, the Libraries were able to offer access to 31% of course texts.
When an ebook is available to the Libraries for purchase, we try to get licenses that allow multiple simultaneous users. However, in some cases, we need to acquire single-user licenses, which means the book can only be read by one person at a time. When an ebook has a single-user license, we encourage students to be mindful of closing out of the book when they are not actively reading it, so that it can be available for other users. It is also often possible to save a small portion of the book using the Chapter Download or Print to PDF options. This will create a personal copy that you can use without affecting the user limit.
Get Connected
Students: Have questions about whether a textbook for your Temple class is available via the Libraries? Contact us!
Faculty: When selecting materials for the spring semester, you may want to contact your subject librarian or specialist to find out if the Libraries will be able to get your texts as ebooks. We also recommend letting the bookstore know what books you are using, even if you will be recommending that students use a library copy. The Libraries rely on information from the bookstore to find out what is assigned. You can submit your textbook adoptions to Follett in TU Portal (under faculty tools).
Have questions about whether the Libraries can purchase materials for your class? Need help determining what is already available? Looking for instructions on how to link a library ebook in Canvas? Contact your subject librarian or specialist!