Library Updates & News

Help! I can't afford my books!

Help! I can't afford my books!

You are NOT alone!

There are a lot of CIA students who cannot afford to purchase required or recommended reading materials for their classes. The library wants to help you find the materials you need to be successful in your classes at CIA.

Here are a few things you should definitely do:

1. Check the library

• See if the library already has a copy of your textbook. The easiest way to see if we have a copy is to use Quick Search (aka EBSCO Discovery) to look for the book. 
• It's possible that your faculty member put the book on course reserves in the library. That means we have a copy of the book in our library that you can use for three hours at a time in the library. If your textbook is not on course reserves, let us know! We will put it on reserve so that it's available for you and your classmates. Log on to Canvas and check the library's page in Canvas for links to our course reserves. Tip: if the page is blank, then you need to log into Canvas.
• Need help? No problem. Stop by the library, start a chat, email us or call us on the phone. We want to help you find the materials you need. Contact us!

2. Ask your professor...

• if an older, less expensive edition is similar enough for you to use.
• to check with the CIA Library about putting a copy on course reserves OR to ask the library to purchase a copy for course reserves
• to check with the library director about free and/or affordable course material alternatives

3. Get creative! 

• Stop by the library, start a chat, email us or call us on the phone. We want to help you find the materials you need without spending a lot of money! Contact us!
• Check Ohiolink to see if you can get a copy from another library. Remember to ask us for help if you don't know how to do this!
• Look for used copies or rentals online.
• Borrow or share with a friend.

4. Advocate for yourself and for other students!

Tell anyone and everyone about the issue. They need to know about the problem before they can help fix it. There are alternatives and we all need to work together to make learning materials more affordable!

Credit: This is a derivative of Help! I can't afford my books! (rb.gy/3imwp) by JMU Libraries, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY). Thank you to Liz Thompson at JMU Libraries.