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Textbooks-for-loan service has made Grenfell Campus students 'super-happy'

Imagine this: you're a student at Memorial University's Grenfell Campus in Corner Brook and you need to finish a required reading for class … and you have left your textbook at home.

A quick trip to the library could save you some time and money, because all textbooks for all Grenfell courses are now available for a short-term loan. That's a two-hour window that can feel like a lifesaver in some circumstances.

"I think one comment was, 'Best thing Grenfell Campus has ever done!'" said associate university librarian Louise McGillis.

"So they were super-happy. A lot of students used the textbooks — they didn't have to buy all of them. You buy some, but maybe others you don't, so they were super-happy about that."

The loans are just for two hours to try to make them available for as many students as possible, said McGills.

CBC
CBC

She said the textbooks are being used by students who perhaps forgot a textbook at home or might have had a class cancelled and found themselves with some extra time to study.

Not intended to replace purchases

The library textbooks can also help students who are "course-shopping," said McGillis.

"Let's say they decide they're going to try a course but they're not going to buy the textbook [yet]. Then even if they decide to stay and then purchase the book, they're behind," she said.

"This way they can keep up with their reading and not buy the textbook, and if they decide not to take the course, well, that's fine. They've read a few chapters and they're still good to go."

She said the project is not intended to replace buying textbooks.

Colleen Connors/CBC
Colleen Connors/CBC

"What we're doing is making them accessible when you need them, and we're trying to make it fair so that everybody can use them. That's why we have the two-hour time limit."

Asked how much the pilot project is costing the library, McGillis said the cost is "in flux" — the library bought the textbooks in the winter semester to support the school bookstore, but will be able to reuse them. She also said the library will be also consider buying later textbooks second-hand or ask professors to donate books..

"We are going to look, going forward, what's circulating, how often is it circulating?" she said.

"Once we [finish] the pilot, then we'll see, do we need to tweak it in some way. So maybe we don't do it for every course, and maybe other courses we have two copies. We don't know yet, so we're just in that testing phase.

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