Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 68.23
Liaison Josh Lasky
Submission Date March 5, 2020

STARS v2.2

George Washington University
IN-41: Textbook Affordability

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.25 / 0.50 Tara Scully
Director of the Sustainability Minor Program
Assistant Professor of Biology
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Does the institution host a peer-to-peer textbook exchange program, textbook lending library, or alternate textbook project?:
Yes

A brief description of the textbook exchange program, textbook lending library, or alternate textbook project:

The Top Textbooks at GW Libraries program acquires up to five copies of required textbooks for a select group of undergraduate, high enrollment courses with traditionally expensive textbooks and places them on course reserve for use by all students. Textbooks are available for use in accordance with current course reserve practices and loan periods. The escalating price of textbooks is a significant concern for undergraduate students, and many students struggle to afford the $1,200 average cost of textbooks and supplies each year. The Top Textbooks program, launched in fall 2017, began as a proposal by former Student Association president Peak Sen Chua and continues as a collaboration with the Student Association.


Does the institution provide incentives for academic staff that explicitly encourage the authorship, peer review, and/or adoption of open access textbooks?:
No

A brief description of the incentives to encourage the authorship, peer review, and/or adoption of open access textbooks:

GW Libraries can provide assistance to professors in finding open textbooks relevant to their course and redesigning a curriculum with Open Educational Resources (OER) in mind.

https://library.gwu.edu/top-textbooks#
https://libguides.gwu.edu/opentextbooks


Website URL where information about the textbook affordability incentives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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