A UWM Libraries’ initiative to provide e-textbooks for almost 15% of the courses offered at UWM during the 2023-24 year ensured that all students taking those classes had access to their textbooks on the first day.
The initiative’s success has engendered a strategic change in how the Libraries use a portion of their budget to support student needs in the classroom.
For the eCAT (electronic Course Adopted Texts) pilot, the Libraries’ Collection and Resource Management (CRM) Division purchased or identified in its collections 397 e-resources assigned by faculty for a potential total savings to students of $424,497. The Libraries spent just $28,000 to accomplish this.
The vast majority of students who took courses in the fall with the free e-texts and answered a Libraries’ survey, said that they took advantage of the eCAT and also that its availability made learning easier for them.
“We are very excited about the positive support from both students and faculty for our initiative to address textbook affordability,” said Chris Doll, library associate director for CRM, “and we look forward to continuing these efforts for the 2024-25 academic year.”
For more information about eCAT, contact Chris Doll (cmdoll@uwm.edu), or Acquisitions Librarian Marion Archer (archerm@uewm.edu).
An earlier story about the pilot program can be found at this link: https://uwm.edu/libraries/2023/10/09/ecat_pilot/