Five Questions about GrinnBooks
As an extension of the popular Five Questions series, the Office of Communications and Marketing is sitting down with key 51²è¹Ýapp leaders to get the latest information about important College initiatives.
We asked Brad Lindberg, associate vice president of institutional initiatives and enrollment, to get the latest on Grinnbooks.
What is GrinnBooks and why is it being adopted?
We’re adopting GrinnBooks to ensure that every student can have their materials on the first day of class without out of pocket expense– we know that sometimes students wait to get their financial aid or their first paycheck from an on-campus job and don’t take advantage of the textbook advance option at the Pioneer Bookshop. This means that they’re at a disadvantage because either they don’t have the course materials at the start of class and fall behind or they have to spend a lot of time trying to get the course materials from other sources – or they order used books online and don’t get the right edition or the codes to online problem sets or other resources.
GrinnBooks makes all required textbooks part of the comprehensive fee. If students have electronic course materials, they’ll be able to access them in Canvas (51²è¹Ýapp’s new Learning Management System) for all a student’s courses. Print materials can be picked up from the Pioneer Bookshop at no additional charge.
We also know that some students avoid classes that require several books or particularly expensive books.
Neither of these situations is fair. GrinnBooks helps every student start from the same place with regard to course materials access.
Why is it now part of the comprehensive fee – is that why cost of attendance keeps rising?
Making it part of the comprehensive fee is more equitable because it becomes part of the cost of attendance that is used to calculate financial aid awards. With GrinnBooks, we know approximately how many students will need materials and can work with our external partner to negotiate the very best prices.
This means that the addition to the comprehensive fee is an average of $150 less than students would spend getting their course materials outside of GrinnBooks – not to mention that it’s a lot easier than trying to track down less expensive used textbooks or purchasing online. It’s completely automatic.
Does GrinnBooks limit what books and materials faculty can choose for their courses? Isn’t that part of academic freedom?
GrinnBooks is comprehensive and enables faculty to exercise full academic freedom about what books and materials or courseware they want to use. Anything with an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) – that’s the little bar code or number that is attached to every printed item – is included. They can also choose if they want digital or printed course material and the Pioneer Bookshop can assist in finding alternatives to any materials that may be out of print.
Does this mean that other course materials will no longer be provided to students?
No – GrinnBooks delivers the required books, course materials, and courseware. Other materials will still be provided to students as they have in the past. Also, Open Educational Resources (OER) and electronic reserves will be delivered directly to students in Canvas – no trips to the library or trying to find the right web link in class notes.
How can students and faculty get more information?
They can check out the new GrinnBooks website, which has a LOT of frequently asked questions and other details. Also, they should monitor their email or the campus event calendar for other opportunities including tabling and office hours, where Pioneer Bookshop staff will be on hand to answer questions.