Good Read: What About the Bookstore?
Steven Bell, the associate university librarian at Temple University, recently published an article in College & Research Libraries News about how many universities are implementing Textbook Affordability Projects (TAP), often tied to the general Open Educational Resources (OER) movement. While librarians often are assuming leadership roles in TAP initiatives, the question often is raised, “What about the campus bookstore?” Bell suggests that librarians need to develop a more current and dynamic sense of the relationships (real and desired) between the library and the bookstore. Bell designed and administered a survey that inquires about the prevalence of TAPs, as well as the current state of library-bookstore relationships. “This article shares information from the survey and its findings so that academic librarians seeking to implement a TAP may do so with a more realistic perspective of what to expect from bookstore and institutional administrators.”