Textbooks

Defined as books produced to be used for a specific course of study, often including study questions, examples, case studies, and/or workbooks.  

It is the general policy of RMU Library not to acquire current textbooks for the General Collection for a variety of reasons, including:

• Recurring expense of frequently updated editions that become rapidly outdated in many disciplines
• Space considerations of a growing collection of textbooks in the stacks
• Single copy acquisition of textbooks for the General Collection could not satisfy an entire class of students
• Textbooks often contain additional consumable content that renders them appropriate for single user only, such as lab manuals, online supplements, or workbooks  

Exceptions  

• This policy applies only to textbook acquisitions for the RMU Library’s General Collection
• The Textbook Reserve Program, sponsored by the Office of Student Life and the RMU Library, is exempt from this policy
• Textbooks placed on faculty-provided reserves are the personal property of the faculty and are not part of this policy
• Textbooks removed from either reserve collection can be selectively evaluated for addition to the General Collection based on the criteria established for monographs
• Textbooks acquired for the Instructional Resource Center.