Top Textbooks on Reserve: Creating, promoting, and assessing a program to help meet students' need for affordable textbooks

摘要

In Fall 2014 the University of Maryland Libraries launched a textbook reserves program to help relieve the burden of high textbook costs on students. Although its initial performance was lackluster, workflow refinements and expanded promotion greatly improved usage, resulting in a tenfold increase in circulation and expansion of the program. This article describes the development and promotion of Top Textbooks on Reserve; offers extensive assessment using various performance metrics; and concludes that while a textbook reserves program is not a panacea for high textbook costs, it can be an effective means for academic libraries to help meet a significant student need.