A Report on the Feasibility of Textbook Rental - IBHE

From: Charles Evans [mailto:cevans4@uillinois.edu]Sent: Monday, January 01, 2007 5:54 PMTo: Garecht, CarolCc: Alexander, Gary; Murphy Marshall, Marilyn M.Subject: Re: Draft of the Textbook StudyI am impressed with much of the detail in the study -- it provides a foundation for decision making. Atthe same time, I have the following, three concerns:• The first and most significant appears in the "Conclusion" (pg 9) of the Executive Summary andthe <strong>Report</strong> (pg. 45) itself -- "Textbook rental programs...could help reduce the financial burdenon students and families... but then notes that to be successful, "they will need the support ofinstitutional administrators, students, faculty and publishers" That statement is followed,somewhat curiously, by the following sentence -- "Some states have found legislative action aneffective tool ..." The big stopper, in my opinion, is not institutional support, etc., but the $218Min start-up costs. From where will that money come? If that is what is meant by "legislativeaction," then okay but I doubt it. I believe a reference to the significant start-up costs needs toappear in the summary conclusions.• My second concern has to do with the examples presented for Illinois -- two regional universitiesand two rural community colleges. Although there is a statement (pg.21) that "none of theinstitutions (presented nationwide) are research institutions," the point that approximately 1% ofdegree granting institutions nationwide offer textbook rental seems to get lost. There are sound,academic reasons why textbook rental programs would not support quality teaching at certain,larger institutions. Those reasons need to be carefully articulated.• Finally, when we did an earlier review of textbook costs for Chair Jim Kaplan, I was impressedby the efforts of many faculty and departments to mitigate the high costs of textbooks. A few ofthose actions are noted on page #45 but, If this is to be valid and fair study, a better sense of thoseefforts occurring on our campuses should be included.Dr. Charles EvansAssociate Vice PresidentUniversity of Illinois-122-