Affordable Textbooks and Course Materials

The St. Kate’s Library is pleased to announce that we are developing a Textbook Collection for student usage starting in Fall 2023! This initiative will help offset student expenses as a part of the library's commitment to textbook affordability,

The Library’s Textbook Collection attempts to include at least one copy of any required textbook in either print or electronic format. Electronic books (Ebooks) will be accessible with a St. Kate’s login anytime, anywhere; print books will be available for in-library use only. 

Note that because of various publisher restrictions, not all textbooks are available for the library to purchase. The library strives to purchase unlimited user eBook versions when available but will get the next best option (single user eBook, print, etc.) when that option is unavailable.

Please note that we are still in the process of ordering some required textbooks for Fall Semester 2023, so check back often to see if your textbook has become available. As the initiative progresses, we will refresh the collection each semester based on what classes are being offered and which texts they require.

The St. Catherine University Library is committed to reducing the high cost of course textbooks and other course materials for students. The Library's efforts are focused on viable alternatives to the traditional model of individual student purchase of course texts/course materials. These alternatives include: 

Library-owned Materials. We work with faculty to adopt or substantially use library-owned materials, such as existing e-book in the library's e-book collection. We work with faculty to investigate options for library purchase of course texts ahead of textbook adoption.

 Course Reading List. Create an online course reading list in Reading Lists (formerly called Leganto), a tool that is linked to the course management system (Brightspace D2L or Canvas) and manages copyright licensing when required.

Open Educational Resources. Advocate for and provide tools, education and support for using and creating open educational resources (OER). 

See the tabs at the left for further details about each of these alternatives.