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EIU Office of Internal Auditing

#49 - Textbook Rental Service


Approved: June 12, 2019

Monitor: Vice President for Student Affairs


Textbook Rental Service is designed to provide students with cost-effective access to textbooks.

Books and learning materials for courses in the curriculum include basic textbooks, reserve books, supplementary material, workbooks, e-books, and online learning materials. Basic textbooks and some reserve books are supplied by Textbook Rental Service. Supplementary material, workbooks, e-books, and online learning materials are available for student purchase at booksellers, including the University Union Bookstore, but are not stocked or sold by Textbook Rental Service. (See “Supplementary Material”)

Basic Textbooks

Basic Textbooks for courses are adopted based on departmental decisions and approval by department chairs.

Multiple sections of courses and honors sections of courses are considered to be separate courses for purposes of selecting basic textbooks with the exception of general education and introductory level courses.

A basic textbook shall ordinarily remain on the approved textbook list and be issued for a course for the longer of two years or three semesters of scheduled use. A semester of scheduled use is defined as a semester in which the course for which the title is an official textbook is offered and the official textbook is issued. If a title is a basic textbook for more than one course, it shall accumulate only one semester of scheduled use during each semester in which it is used. Faculty are encouraged to use textbooks as long as possible and pedagogically appropriate for the sustainability of Textbook Rental Service.

Ordinarily, the sum of the list prices of approved basic textbooks for any one course shall not exceed the amount in the current year’s cost limit schedule.

A separate request is required for each basic textbook adoption and shall include, where feasible, the following information.

  1. Title, author, publisher, edition, course in which the new textbook is to be used, semester needed, number of copies needed, and estimated list price.
  2. Author, title, edition, date of adoption, course for which the replaced textbook was used, and suggested disposition of the replaced textbook.

When a title, used as a basic textbook for a particular course and not listed as a basic textbook for any other course, is removed from the official textbook list, Textbook Rental Service may dispose of the textbooks. Upon request, one copy shall be sent to the appropriate academic department. If Textbook Rental Service is unable to dispose of the remaining copies through sales, additional copies may be provided to the appropriate academic department if so requested. Textbooks that are listed to be removed from the inventory cannot be reordered for a period of two years following their removal.

In addition, textbook information for all textbooks not issued for a period of five years or longer will be included in a "Unused/To Be Removed Listing" to be sent to each appropriate Department Chairperson. Individuals, within each department, should review this listing and make notations as to the retention of each title. If titles are to be retained in the Textbook Rental Service inventory, there must be specific information as to the course or courses that the textbook will be assigned and the expected date of use (i.e. semester/year). This information must be returned by the established deadline. If the information is not returned by the established deadline or no notations are visible upon receipt of this information, the "Unused/To Be Removed Listing" will be forwarded to the appropriate Dean of each academic area to serve as notification that these titles will be eliminated from the inventory. Textbooks that are listed to be removed from the inventory cannot be reordered for a period of two years following their removal.

When a new textbook purchase is approved, Textbook Rental Service shall notify department chairs that the order was placed.

Desk Copies

Desk copies will not be supplied by Textbook Rental Service except on a short-term basis, when a textbook is out of print, or in an emergency situation. Desk copies should be obtained directly from the publishers.

Reserve Books

Contact Textbook Rental Service for availability. One copy is allowed for every ten students. Reserve books will be available at Booth Library.

Supplementary Material 

An instructor, with the approval of the department chair, may require that students purchase certain supplementary materials including workbooks, e-books, and online learning materials for a section or sections of a course.

Requests for approval and purchase of supplemental materials, workbooks, or online learning materials shall be submitted to Textbook Rental Service and include the same information as basic textbook requests.

Workbooks, study guides, laboratory manuals, periodicals, online learning materials and other consumable or single use materials must be purchased by the students. Such items are not stocked by Textbook Rental Service nor are copies placed on reserve.

Textbook Rental Service shall notify the University Union Bookstore, and booksellers who have requested such notification, of approved items for purchase indicating the course and sections and the expected enrollment in those sections.

Approved items requested for student purchase will not be automatically renewed for successive terms the course is offered. They must be requested each semester they are to be used for a section or sections of a course.

Additional Instructional Materials

If the Request for Textbook Purchase form indicates a package ISBN that includes a CD ROM and the request is supported by the Department Chairperson and approved by Textbook Rental Service, the CD ROM will be included in the text, if feasible. All other materials will be delivered to the instructor or, in the event of multiple instructors, the Department Chairperson of record and distributed to the students at their discretion.

Purchase Options, Lost Books and Fines

During periods designated by Textbook Rental Service, students may purchase textbooks at selling price, subject to the availability of replacements.

Lost textbooks must be paid for at current list price. Students may also be required to pay current list prices for textbooks in which they have done extensive writing or highlighting, which have been subjected to unusual wear, which have any visible signs of liquid damage of any type, or have RFID tags that have been removed or damaged in any way.

Students not returning textbooks by announced deadlines at semester/term ends are subject to charges including the list price of each textbook not returned and late charges of $20.00 per textbook. Late charges will be posted immediately following the announced deadlines. Students will be charged the current list price for each unreturned textbook five days after the announced deadlines. These charges are non-refundable. Late returns will not be accepted after the five-day grace period following the announced semester/term deadline. Late charges of $20.00 per textbook are in addition to the list price of each lost textbook as well as any textbooks that are not returned by the five-day grace period following the semester/term designated deadline. Students are required to return all textbooks for courses they have dropped/withdrawn from within two business days of the date of drop/withdrawal for regular on-campus courses or five business days of the date of drop/withdrawal for online or off campus courses. Failure to return textbooks within this time period will result in a late charge of $20.00 per textbook.

Exceptions

Textbook Rental Service does not purchase textbooks for workshops, special topic courses, independent study, internship, research or thesis courses.

Any textbooks which are not needed as basic textbooks for other courses may be issued to students enrolled in workshops, special topic courses, independent study, research or thesis courses, but only after the official enrollment count day of a semester/term.

In instances where the body of knowledge in a discipline is undergoing rapid and substantial change, where a new edition replaces a current one on a cycle of less than two years, or where a textbook has substantial and serious shortcomings in its instructional value, the department chair may, with the concurrence of Textbook Rental Service, approve basic textbooks for a course for less than two years or three semesters of scheduled use.

If necessary for academic quality, dollar amounts may vary with the level and discipline of courses involved with the approval of Textbook Rental Service. 

Exceptions, other than those specifically noted in this section, must be approved by the dean responsible for the academic department upon recommendation of the department chair and by Textbook Rental Service. In the event of no concurrence, Textbook Rental Service shall refer such matters to the Vice President for Student Affairs and the Vice President for Academic Affairs for resolution. Due consultation with others as needed and as circumstances dictate is assumed.

Textbooks Authored by EIU Faculty

To minimize suggestions of conflict of economic interest, recommendations for adoption for basic or supplementary textbooks authored by University faculty members must include approval of the department chair and the dean responsible for the academic department. A statement must accompany such recommendations, indicating (a) that no other textbooks containing material appropriate to the course are available, or (b) that if other textbooks are available, the textbook selected is deemed most appropriate.

Textbook Rental Service Advisory Committee

The Textbook Rental Service Advisory Committee, a standing University committee, is constituted as follows:

Student Affairs:

Vice President for Student Affairs, Ex-Officio

Manager, Textbook Rental Service, Chair

Council on Academic Affairs:

 

Two members appointed by Council on Academic Affairs Chair

Council on Graduate Studies:

 

One member appointed by Council on Graduate Studies Chair

Graduate Student Advisory Council:

 

One graduate student member elected by the Graduate Student Advisory Council for a one-year term.

Faculty Senate: 

 

Two members appointed by Faculty Senate Chair 

Academic Affairs:

 

One member appointed by Vice President for Academic Affairs

Academic Dean:

 

One member appointed by Vice President for Academic Affairs

Department Chair:

 

One member appointed by the Council of Chairs

Faculty-at-Large:

 

Two members appointed by Vice President for Academic Affairs

Students:

 

Two members appointed by Student Body President

Booth Library:

 

One member appointed by Dean, Booth Library

Unless otherwise specified, appointments shall be for two academic years with appointments made during spring for the following fall. Members unable to complete their terms shall be replaced for the unexpired portion of their terms by appropriate appointments.

Review

The Textbook Rental Service Advisory Committee shall meet to discuss possible policy changes and to recommend cost limits. Faculty members wishing to suggest changes in policy are urged to submit their ideas through the Committee.

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