Q. How can I spend less money on textbooks?

Hello,  

The University has begun working towards providing more affordable textbooks for students, including adopting open education resources (learn more here). In the meantime, you have several options to help lessen the overall expense of buying textbooks:  

1. Top Textbook on Reserve: Each semester the UMD Libraries purchase required textbooks for the largest courses on campus and place them on reserve. You can borrow them from the Library Services Desk in McKeldin Library for 4 hours at a time. Search for your textbooks here to see if they are included in this program. 

2. Course Reserves: E-Reserves, which includes links to ebooks and PDF files of journal articles and book chapters, can be accessed through ELMS anytime and from anywhere. Print books are held at a particular library and can be borrowed for 2 or 24 hours, depending on the instructor. Check to see if your professor has put your required readings on reserve here; if not, ask them to do so!  

3. ILL : Unfortunately, most libraries do not buy textbooks, and if they do, they place them on reserve for their students to use.  While it is highly unlikely that you will be able to acquire a recent edition of a traditional textbook via ILL, you may be able to borrow older textbook editions or other required readings (e.g., novels for a literature class) through these services.  However, please note that it will take a week or longer for these books to arrive, and you may not be able to keep them all semester.   

4. Sometimes your only option is to pay for your textbook. Tips for saving money when buying and renting textbooks are available here.    

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