From: St. Clair, Serena Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 1:41 PM To: Murphy, Deborah; Salinas, John; Moynahan, Diana; Patterson, Cynthia; Wood, Doreen Cc: Kozlowski, Alex; Salinas, Kathleen; Markwell, Cheryl; Olsen-Oliver, Tracey; Warren, Lynda Subject: More about textbooks on reserve

Dear Faculty Senate Colleagues,

I had a time conflict on Friday morning so as you may have noticed was only able to attend second half of meeting. On the DRAFT agenda, it listed textbook discussion during second half of meeting so I thought I could report out, but as it turns out you discussed this earlier in the meeting  I also did some fact finding this past month and have some information that complements what apparently Deb reported on.

 I checked with PCC, COCC, LCC & SOU on whether they have a “textbook-on-reserve” policy. o LCC and COCC do not have any policy, it’s up to individual teachers and depts. to decide whether to put textbook copies on reserve. For example at LCC the math dept is committed to this and consistently provides all the course text books at the reserve desk. o PCC-Cascade received a grant from student government of $32,000 to purchase all campus text books for students. The interesting twist is that they applied to the “Green Initiative Fund”, with the idea founded in “less environmental impact”. (Their student government passed a tax to support green projects.) . It was so successful that the larger PCC student government group has now committed $320,000 (yes THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS) to extend this textbook-on-reserve program for all their campuses. . There were a few aspects of this pilot Cascade program that they learned from, which I can share in more detail if we go this route, such as: not buying books used for classes that meet when the library is closed. I also have the librarian contacts name. . Students and faculty love this project. o SOU told me something very similar to what Deb reported on. I think the important concept from their project is to be selective about what books to purchased, (only the more expensive books) to lessen the blow to students but still leverage the funds a student should reasonably expect to spend on course texts and materials.

Sorry this information is coming after the meeting, but maybe you will want to include as an addendum to the minutes or just send out to the whole faculty senate as an information item, or save until April 22nd meeting. It seems timely to announce in relationship to Deb’s recycling textbook idea. Please share this information as you see best.

Peace, Serena Serena Ota St. Clair, Ph.D. Pathways and Articulation Coordinator Rogue Community College 541-245-7864 [email protected]