Bridging Code & Culture: An Affordable Course Materials Project

In this presentation colleagues at Tufts University will describe a project to reduce the financial burden of required course materials on students. The project was designed to improve access to e-book versions of required texts available through the library, while also making workflow improvements for instructor and staff processes. It brings together staff from across departments, bridging departmental cultures and areas of expertise to create a holistic workflow as textbook data travels from the university bookstore, into Alma, through some custom code, to another external vendor, back into Alma, to a local website. The presentation will describe the project workflows, including identifying required texts the library already owns, purchasing those they don’t, and creating a one-stop resource where students can see required texts available as e-books; provide access to custom code created for the project; and discuss future opportunities for course reserves workflows and Leganto Reading Lists.