UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A Penn State program has saved online learners an estimated $1.2 million in the cost of buying textbooks since it launched in the fall of 2017. Its success is now laying the groundwork for even greater savings for students across the University.
Penn State, through a partnership between Penn State World Campus and the University Libraries, has made available more than 330 e-books for almost 300 courses offered through World Campus starting in the 2017-2018 academic year. The e-books are available to students through Canvas, the University’s learning management system, and are also searchable online in the University Libraries’ catalog.
World Campus has committed to invest up to $50,000 annually for three years to increase the Libraries’ digital collections.
“Penn State is committed to minimizing students’ costs toward obtaining a degree by making free and affordable course content available through the University Libraries. The e-book licensing partnership between the Libraries and Penn State World Campus is one of the ways we are making that educational content accessible to all students,” Barbara I. Dewey, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications, said. “The partnership is mutually beneficial as it helps the Libraries increase its collections strategically while also supporting Penn State’s strategic plan foundation of enabling educational access and affordability and its commitment to help students avoid costs by offering free and low-cost textbooks.”
The partnership was designed to provide e-book access to Penn State World Campus students in high-enrollment courses. World Campus students enrolled in courses in which e-books have been licensed can access the e-books via the “Library Resources” tab in the course dashboard of Canvas. The license also can provide Libraries catalog access to any Penn State student at any campus who is enrolled in a course that uses the selected e-book.
“Penn State World Campus students benefit from the longstanding history of the University Libraries being at the forefront of using the latest technologies and innovative approaches to support students, faculty and staff,” said Renata Engel, vice provost for Online Education. “University Libraries employees understand and are committed to providing access to rich content with an eye on reducing costs to students, seamless integration into courses and high-quality support.”