During the annual meeting of the American Printing House for the Blind in October, Molly Pasley heard something remarkable.
A professor from another university told her about a partnership with the school’s library that gave students free access to many Vision Studies textbooks.
Pasley loved that idea – and, in subsequent discussions with Department of Special and Early Education colleague Stacy Kelly, the duo decided to pursue a similar program for their Huskies to not only lower costs but also to bridge equity gaps.
Great, said Alissa Droog, assistant professor and Education and Social Sciences librarian at Founders Memorial Library.
“Whole programs can come to the library, share with us all the textbooks they use and ask us to see if we can provide as many as possible,” said Droog, who is eager to expand NIU’s electronic collection and welcomes email contact from interested faculty. “We’re not going to be able to provide all of them because e-book licensing is complicated, and some vendors and publishers are better to work with than others, but we can do a decent amount.”
For students in Vision Studies, NIU Libraries now offers half of the e-books they need “all in one central place” and accessible to people who use screen readers or who require large print. Among them are foundational texts that cover information needed for certification exam success.
“Stacy and I were ready to use grant funds to do this and Alissa said, ‘No need. We’ve got you covered,’ ” said Pasley, an assistant professor.
“It turned out that Alissa was able to get some of our most expensive books,” she added, “and it ended up being much less expensive for the library to purchase access to these books than it would have cost our students to buy the books. Now everybody gets access to a digital copy for free through our library.”
Eleven of 22 textbooks are available, including “The Art and Science of Teaching Orientation and Mobility to Persons with Visual Impairments” by Henry William Jacobson, “Imagining the Possibilities: Creative Approaches to Orientation and Mobility Instruction for Persons who are Visually Impaired” by Diane L. Fazzi and Barbara Petersmeyer and “Making Life More Livable” by Maureen A. Duffy.
“All of these books are searchable in the main catalog,” said Droog, who credits NIU Acquisitions Librarian Michele Hunt for conducting the original checks of what e-textbooks were obtainable. “They’re not just for Vision Studies program students. These are available to everybody.”
Putting the textbooks online exposes students to resources available on the Libguides website, including core journals.
Meanwhile, Pasley said, the practice advances equity concerns regarding the affordability of textbooks.
Data from 2021 reported that about 95% of NIU students received financial aid during the 2019-20 academic year, and the average price tag for an annual courseload’s worth of textbooks was $1,400. Looking at individual programs, such as those in the STEM field, showed cash outlays beyond that.
“The number of hours it would take students to pay for these textbooks is over 100 at minimum wage,” Droog said. “Being able to provide some of these, especially these high-cost textbooks, makes a huge difference for those students.”
Pasley agrees.
“A big part of our programming, and what we try to do, is to eliminate financial barriers as best as we can, so this was just another opportunity to minimize another,” she said. “Our students, if they’re on one of our federal grants, get tuition, fees, health insurance and a living stipend covered, and this is just another arm of that to try to make it more equitable.”
