A recent Government Accountability Office study stated that close to 40% of college students decide against buying textbooks. Rising textbook and tuition costs have created an economic crisis for students that has dramatic consequences for their success and ultimate retention and graduation rates. As a result, libraries and faculty are investigating how to incorporate library resources and open educational resources (OER) into required course materials.

A new San Jose State University (SJSU) initiative known as “Affordable Learning $olutions” works to provide class resources for students by utilizing library owned electronic resources. This session will explain how the SJSU Library partnered with various entities, such as the campus bookstore and vendors, to use online resources readily available through the library catalog and website. We will describe the impetus behind the initiative, the activities that made it happen in spring 2012, and how we plan to sustain and expand the program. Specifically, we will discuss the library-developed web pages that educated the university community about the initiative, targeted faculty workshops and incentives, the creation of the popular “Textbooks Available as eBooks in the Library” list, and the usage statistics results from the first semester of the initiative.