New initiative launches to provide students with timely textbook information

A cooperative textbook project between the Office of the Registrar and the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) was launched on Aug. 18. As a result, textbook information will display to students in their My UW–Madison Student Center.

The goal of this initiative is to help students get timely information about textbooks and help them manage their textbook costs. Available information about textbooks and International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs) will be online for students as soon as possible, preferably two to three weeks before the beginning of semesters. This will allow students to search for the lowest prices.

For the fall semester, an initial one-time upload of available textbook information from the University Bookstore took place the week of Aug. 11. This textbook information is now available for faculty to update/add to and then approve for display to students.

Going forward, faculty and instructional staff will be responsible for entering their textbook information into their My UW–Madison Faculty Center. These entries will be made available to local bookstores.

To view a demonstration of textbook information in the Student Center, visit this Web site; click on the link in the Student Demos section. Faculty and staff instructions for updating textbook information are available here.

Questions about this initiative can be directed to textbook@em.wisc.edu.