W. Va. Code § 18B-1B-4, § 18B-1-6; § 18B-9; and § 18B-10-14
Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (Public law 110-315)
This policy governs the operation of an institutional bookstore for the purpose of the selection, adoption, use, sale, repurchase, and resale of textbooks and other course materials so as to minimize the cost of textbooks for WVSOM students.
An employee of the WVSOM Governing Board (the “Board”):
May not:
Receive a payment, loan, subscription, advance, deposit of money, service, benefit or thing of value, present or promised, as an inducement for requiring students to purchase a specific textbook for coursework or instruction; or
Require for any course a textbook that includes his or her own writing or work if the textbook incorporates either detachable worksheets or workbook-style pages intended to be written on or removed from the textbook. This provision does not prohibit an employee from requiring as a supplement to a textbook any workbook or similar material which is published independently from the textbook; and
May receive:
Sample copies, instructor's copies and instructional material which are not to be sold; and
Royalties or other compensation from sales of textbooks that include the employee's own writing or work.
The School shall:
Make available to students a listing of textbooks required or assigned for any course offered at the School immediately after the selection process is completed and the textbook and course materials are designated for order by the bookstore. The listing shall be prominently posted:
In a central location on campus communicated to the student body;
In the School Bookstore; and
On the institution's website.
The list shall include for each textbook the International Standard Book Number (ISBN), the edition number and any other relevant information.
Add a book to the listing when the adoption process is complete and the textbook is designated for order by the bookstore.
The WVSOM School Bookstore (the “Bookstore”) shall:
Provide publisher price information, on request to departments during the textbook/material selection process.
Make every effort to provide used textbooks by:
Purchasing back from our students up to 90% of the number of textbooks expected to be required for the subsequent year, based on the historical usage list.
Purchasing all used textbooks from students at a rate not greater than 50% of purchase price (not to exceed historical usage), if on usage list for subsequent year; wholesale buyer's guide price shall be paid if text will not be in use.
Purchasing used textbooks from national book suppliers prior to ordering new textbooks.
Purchasing paperback books; initial adoption of textbooks will give preference to paperback books if available.
Set margins on new books at reasonable market level, based on the School’s existing bookstore contract.
Each academic year, the Dean of the School shall:
Determine, for each year, deadline dates for which faculty are to be assigned to course sections and textbooks and course materials are to be selected.
For those deadlines not met, the Dean shall have a mechanism in place reasonably calculated to ensure that used textbooks, if available, can be located and purchased by the time of enrollment each year, to the maximum extent practicable.
This mechanism should include, but is not limited to, such measures as default selection of certain textbooks, continuing to use the previous textbook, or having a chair or dean select the textbook. Any such textbook default selection must be strictly enforced and faculty are not allowed to change the selection.
Enforce book “adoption” dates for each year, as prepared by the Bookstore, with a goal of having 80% of all class sections utilizing textbooks having such textbooks selected by faculty (or by the mechanism described in 3.4.1.2) and submitted to the Bookstore by the stated adoption date.
With the recommendation of the Textbook Affordability Committee described in Section 5, develop a selection procedure that will ensure, to the maximum percent practicable, certain basic textbooks will be utilized for a reasonable number of consecutive years without new editions being adopted, or selection of basic textbooks where earlier editions are easily and appropriately utilized in the courses.
By November 1 of each year, report to the Chancellor of the Commission, for the prior fiscal year, the deadlines established for faculty to be assigned to courses; the deadlines for textbooks and course materials to be selected; the percentages of those deadlines met; and the dates the listing of assigned textbooks and course materials were posted pursuant to the requirements of Section 3.2.1 of this policy.
Textbook publishers soliciting any employee of the Board to select textbooks or supplemental course material shall provide that employee, in writing:
The price of the textbook and supplemental course materials;
The copyright dates of the three previous editions, if any;
A description of substantial content revisions from the previous editions;
Whether the textbook is available in other lower cost format and, if so, the price to the institution and the general public;
The price of the textbooks unbundled from the supplemental material; and
The same information, to the extent practicable, for custom textbooks.
No employee of the Board shall select or assign a textbook or supplemental course materials if the publisher has not supplied the information, in writing, required by Section 4.1 of this policy.
The School shall provide on its electronic course schedule, prior to course enrollment each year for all required or recommended textbooks and supplemental material:
The ISBN number and retail price, or if the ISBN number is not available then the author, title, publisher and copyright date.
If such disclosure is not practicable, then the designation "To Be Determined."
A reference shall be made on any written course schedule to the information available on the electronic course schedule accessible through the institutional website and the internet address for the electronic course schedule.
The School will include on its website or through a link to its bookstore’s website and electronic course schedule any of its policies or provisions for:
The purchase of used textbooks;
The textbook repurchase or buy backs; and
Alternative content delivery programs.
The School will amend this and/or other policies to comply with any future federal mandates.
The School shall establish a permanent Textbook Affordability Committee consisting of faculty, students, administrators, and bookstore representatives, which shall meet periodically, but at least annually, to advise the faculty senate, student government, administration, and institutional board of governors on affordability issues and initiatives, textbook selection guidelines and strategies, and educational opportunities.
The Board shall annually meet with the Textbook Affordability Committee to receive any recommendations or reports it may have generated and copies of any such recommendations and reports shall be transmitted to the Chancellor of the Commission.
Guidelines for the Textbook Affordability Committee (http://www.wvsom.edu/procedures/GA30) have been developed to assist the Committee in complying with the State and Federal mandates set out in this Policy. Until such time as the Committee has recommended and the Board has formally adopted Guidelines for WVSOM, the practices described in these Guidelines shall be considered the Board’s Guidelines. Faculty are encouraged to utilize each of these when selecting textbooks and course materials.
All revenue the School receives from any private entity for bookstore operations is to be utilized for non-athletic scholarships.