3364-72-53. Textbook and instructional materials selection policy

(A) Policy statement

In accordance with the in section 3345.025 of the Revised Code, textbook selection policy, it is the policy of the university of Toledo to encourage efforts to minimize the cost of textbooks and other instructional materials for students while equally maintaining the quality of education and the faculty's right to academic freedom.

(B) Purpose of policy

To provide guidance on the selection and adoption of textbooks and other instructional materials in an effort to enhance college affordability.

(C) Scope

This policy applies to all full-time and part-time undergraduate and graduate course faculty, including instructors.

(D) Roles and responsibilities

When selecting the most suitable textbook and other instructional materials, faculty should consider:

(1) Quality;

(2) Cost;

(3) Availability;

(4) Alternative formats;

(5) Content revisions of previous editions;

(6) Supplementary bundled products;

(7) Coordination with other instructors or courses;

(8) Coordination with other campus units, such as the bookstore and university libraries, and

(9) Texts and instructional materials used at other co-located state institutions of higher education.

(E) Faculty-authored materials for which students are required to pay

(1) Definition: Faculty-authored materials for which students are required to pay subject to this policy include all published self-authored materials, including those that are self-published. This does not include materials published by faculty with academic or trade publishers in the field, which are subject to editing and peer-review processes customary for materials in that field.

(2) Disclosure: Faculty who intend to assign self-published materials, for which students are required to pay, should provide a written disclosure to the enrolled students and to the department chair or the appropriate administrator.

(3) Approval: Adoption of self-published materials, for which the student is required to pay, needs approval from the chair of the department from which the course is offered or, in the case of faculty in units without chairs, the appropriate administrator. When there is a dispute concerning the chair's approval, a department faculty committee with the appropriate curriculum background should be convened to resolve the disagreement. The college dean should be the final decision point in cases of dispute.

(4) When assigning faculty-authored materials published by academic or trade publishers in the field, which are subject to editing and peer-review processes, faculty should inform the chair or appropriate administrator and be mindful of the perceived potential financial conflict of interest.

(F) Bookstore

(1) Faculty should inform the university bookstore each semester as early as possible and by the required deadline of the textbooks and other instructional materials they intend to use for each course.

(2) If there are no textbooks or instructional materials required for a course, the university bookstore should also be informed as early as possible and by the required deadline.

Effective: 3/15/2019
Promulgated Under: 111.15
Statutory Authority: 3364
Rule Amplifies: 3364