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Faculty Textbook Resources

 

The Campus Store’s textbook rental program provides every undergraduate and graduate student access to textbooks and course materials, digitally and physically, in exchange for a fixed fee per semester.

 

Important information about textbooks and course materials 

  • Digital versions of most textbooks as well as other course materials provided by publishers will be available by the first day of class, via AsULearn Dashboards.
  • Faculty have the flexibility to change their digital rental adoptions each term. Physical textbooks that do not have a digital match with VitalSource will continue to require a two-year adoption.
  • Students will continue to purchase some items, such as lab kits, workbooks, one-time use items, course packs, and other items.
  • If your students will be required to purchase special order items — paper, notebooks, pens, etc. — that you would like the Campus Store to stock, please contact the Campus Store.

 

How to request textbooks and course materials

  • Each term, faculty will receive an email from the Campus Store via the vendor Verba Collect prompting them to submit course material requests.
  • Consider choosing the most recent editions of titles as these are most readily available in digital format.
  • For publisher courseware (digital labs, homework, quizzes, etc. that include the eBook), submit the unique digital ISBN.
  • If a digital textbook is not available, a physical textbook will be included through the rental program. One month before the next term begins, you can click here to check if your book is digital or physical.
  • Please keep in mind that you have academic freedom to choose whatever learning materials you need. VitalSource will provide those materials to your students digitally when possible and at a greatly reduced cost as part of our textbook rental program. If you choose not to be a part of this program, please know that textbooks and course materials you select will incur an extra cost to the student.

 

How to see the textbooks adopted for your class

  • If faculty would like to see if their submitted course adoptions are digital or physical, or they want to review what they requested, visit the course adoptions search page. Each upcoming term is published a month before classes begin. Faculty will need to use the dropdown menus to find their classes and select "begin shopping" to see their adoptions.


Important Dates

Summer 1 2024

  • February 13: Verba Collect course adoption submissions begin.
  • March 1: Verba Collect course adoption submissions due.
  • May 13: The VitalSource eBook Course Catalog is activated. This allows students and faculty to see their adopted eBooks in VitalSource.

Summer 2 2024

  • February 13: Verba Collect course adoption submissions begin.
  • March 1: Verba Collect course adoption submissions due.
  • June 17: The VitalSource eBook Course Catalog is activated. This allows students and faculty to see their adopted eBooks in VitalSource.

Fall 2024

  • March 19: Verba Collect course adoption submissions begin.
  • April 26: Verba Collect course adoption submissions due.
  • August 1: The VitalSource eBook Course Catalog is activated. This allows students and faculty to see their adopted eBooks in VitalSource.



Adding the VitalSource Digital Materials External Tool to your AsULearn Course


How to add VitalSource eBook/course materials links to AsULearn

Each faculty member will need to place the VitalSource link in their AsULearn course whether or not they actively use AsULearn for the course. 

Remember:

  • If you’ve imported or restored a course from a previous semester that had a VitalSource link, it will already be present and will work.
  • If you add the VitalSource link to your course well in advance of the semester, it will not connect to your text until the texts are provisioned by the Campus Store, generally a couple of weeks before the first day of classes.

To Add the VitalSource “My Materials” Link to your Course:

View a video tutorial.

  • Proceed to your course homepage in AsULearn
  • From the course homepage, enable Edit mode at the top right

  • Click on +Add a new activity or resource in the topic where you wish the link to show, and it will be added to the bottom of that topic. Make sure you have the All tab selected in the chooser to show all activities/resources:

  • Scroll down select VitalSource Digital Materials:

  • On the Adding a new External tool page, use My Materials as the Activity name. This will provide consistency across courses for the students.

  • Click Save and return to course at the bottom and the tool will appear in the topic in which you added it. With editing enabled, the resource can be dragged/dropped to another position or topic:

Using this process ensures that the sitewide tool configuration for VitalSource is properly saved for the activity in the course, and student access to your selected text(s) is provided.

*If you intend to combine sections in AsULearn by adding course meta-links, and are using Kendall Hunt or Vista Higher Learning courseware titles, please contact:


VitalSource Resources

  • Visit the VitalSource success hub for information about teaching with digital textbooks and course materials.
  • Faculty will be able to access a complimentary digital textbook for assigned content and can also obtain digital desk copies of textbooks that they would like to evaluate for future terms. Learn more about the VitalSource Sampling Platform. 


Questions?

If you have questions, please start by contacting your department’s course materials admin.

For additional assistance, please put in a Campus Store Support Request ticket (log-in required).