Saving Students Money on Course Readers
In early 2008 the UCLA Library began working with ASUCLA Academic Publishing to analyze content faculty members use in course readers. The goal was to identify materials already owned or licensed by the Library, which do not require payment of an additional permissions fee for UCLA student academic use.
A pilot assessment project in Spring 2008 focused on sixteen course readers, primarily in the humanities and social sciences. Approximately sixty-five percent of their content came from monographs, and approximately thirty percent was journal articles. UCLA librarians reviewed library holdings and journal licensing agreements to identify articles for which no additional permissions fee had to be paid. Removing the permissions fee reduced the price of each reader, by as little as twelve cents to as much as $30.18.
ASUCLA has now made checking journal articles in course readers against Library subscriptions a routine part of its workflow, which will produce ongoing savings for students. To create a course reader or transfer production of one to ASUCLA, faculty members are encouraged to contact Kati Szeker-Somogyi, Academic Publishing manager, by phone at extension 52831 or by email.
The Library will continue to investigate how it might leverage its collections to reduce costs for monographic content in course readers as part of Chancellor Gene Block's initiative to reduce textbook and educational materials costs for students. Possibilities include making special agreements with major university publishers and consulting with campus counsel on how the fair use conditions in U.S. copyright law might apply.
