Textbook Order Procedure

To: UT Knoxville Faculty and Staff

From: Todd Diacon, Vice Provost for Academic Operations

This is a friendly reminder of our policies regarding the assignment and ordering of materials for your fall courses. Please note the April 01, 2008 deadline for fall book orders.

On May 31, 2007, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a law designed to control textbook costs at Tennessee public colleges and universities.

Before discussing the provisions of the law, and our efforts to meet its requirements, I want to stress that the spirit behind the law is a good one: We all know that the cost of the materials we assign our students affects their ability to succeed in college. This is why all of us already consider carefully the cost of books when crafting our required-reading lists. Many of us may quibble with the specifics of the legislation, but its aim is praiseworthy: All of us want to provide the best-quality education at the most affordable cost for our students.

We will need to alter our book order procedure to comply with the new legislation. The existing book order deadlines of April 01 for fall semester and October 31 for spring semester will have to be followed much more closely, by all faculty submitting requests, in order to demonstrate the required "timely" submission of required textbooks and materials for purchase. The textbook order form will now include a column for the price of each book (please list the retail price for
consistency) and will include a line for your signature. Both will be needed before the UT Bookstore can process your order, as we must follow the requirement that "faculty members affirmatively acknowledge the price of the textbooks and materials before an order is completed."
Also, please note that the legislation states: "Faculty members must consider the least costly practices in assigning textbooks and course materials, such as adopting the least expensive edition of a textbook available when educational content is comparable to a more costly edition as determined by the faculty member."

The legislation further orders that textbooks, when the publisher provides them for free, be placed on library reserve or in a place of easy student access. I especially encourage you to donate these examination copies to the Black Cultural Center's Book Loan Program.
Doing so will help us fulfill the letter of the law, but far more importantly it will help us meet the needs of students who find the cost of textbook purchases prohibitive. Please deliver the books directly to the Black Cultural Center, or contact Mr. Tierney Bates, Assistant Director of Minority Student Affairs (tbates@utk.edu), for alternative arrangements. Other provisions in the legislation, particularly as they relate to the "bundling" of materials, will be addressed directly by the bookstore management.

I realize that this new law places additional burdens on an already busy faculty. However, we must comply with the new law. In doing so, we will remind ourselves regularly of the costs our students face in college, and yet will be able to assign precisely the materials our students need to earn the best education possible. This may not be exactly a "win-win" solution, but it is a positive outcome to an act of legislation not of our making.

For these and many other reasons, I thank you in advance for complying with this new legislation and these new procedures.

 

Posted: March 11, 2008