'Berg Bookshop Recommended Best Practices
for Textbook Adoption Submission

The ‘Berg Bookshop  is committed to minimizing the costs of textbooks for its students, which have increased substantially in recent years and have had a significant fiscal impact on students.  Faculty should carefully consider the appropriateness of textbooks and other supplemental materials for each course, the cost to students, and factors that determine the cost.

Best Practices Guidelines:

1. Prices of Textbooks: Publishers are required to provide information on prices of textbooks and supplemental materials, both in bundled and unbundled form, and for both the current edition and previous editions. Publishers are required to include information on substantial content revisions between current and previous editions. Publishers are also required to provide information on paperback or other alternative forms for materials and lists of textbooks that are classified as integrated textbooks. This provides the opportunity for faculty to obtain information on a variety of textbook choices. The ‘Berg Bookshop can also provide retail price information (the price students will pay in the bookstore) to faculty. Faculty should take into account price considerations in making textbook decisions.

 

2. Early Adoption: In order to ensure that books are available in our store or Web site on or before the first day of class, please submit your textbook and related course materials adoptions by the following due dates:

    

   Summer and Fall – March 1 to April 30
   Spring               - October 1 to November 30

    

   This allows our staff time to research your titles, seek as many used copies as possible (first and foremost from our students), and to work with publishers and suppliers to resolve out-of-stock situations or other problems. There is another very important reason to have your textbook orders in on time. You can help save your students money on their textbook purchases. If we have your adoption information prior to finals week and buyback, we can add your titles to our buy list. Students receive up to 50% of the current retail price for their unwanted books and we can then place the used book stock on our shelves for other students to buy at a reduced price.

   Meeting the due dates also ensures compliance with the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2010.

 

3. Content of New Editions and Consideration of Used Textbooks: Faculty should carefully consider the content of new versus existing editions of textbooks. Repeated use of the same textbook in a course provides opportunities for students to acquire used textbooks, which can often save them significant costs. In choosing between a new version and an existing edition, faculty should consider whether content revisions warrant the cost differential that is often associated with using a new edition.

 

4. Use of Required Items: Faculty members should ensure that a significant portion of each assigned textbook will be used in the course. If supplemental materials are sold with the textbook (a practice called bundling), faculty members should be aware of the variance in price between the bundled and unbundled items. They should consider whether all parts of the bundle are intended for use in the course. Faculty may ask the bookstore whether it can obtain from the publishers only a subset of the bundled items.

 

5. Alternative Approaches: Faculty members should consider permitting students to purchase electronic versions of textbooks when available or to incorporate the use of online resources into course instruction wherever feasible or prudent.  The ‘Berg Bookshop has access to and is able to carry specific eBooks titles, when available.

1. Click the “Faculty Book Orders” link; be sure to print a copy for your records. You will receive an e-mail of your order confirming it was received at the Bookstore.
2. For current books in print, click here.
3. Faculty can acquire desk copies at www.facultycenter.net