SCALE working to expand free textbooks

Thanks to The State for bringing attention to the high cost of textbooks (“Here’s how to get free textbooks (and possibly improve your grade) at USC”). This does a great service for all S.C. students.

A new statewide initiative, South Carolina Affordable Learning, is seeking to promote the use of quality low-cost and no-cost learning materials. Working with USC and other institutions, SCALE is launching several programs to support faculty adoption of affordable options this fall.

SCALE is an initiative of PASCAL, a consortium that serves students and faculty at 56 S.C. colleges and universities and is part of the Commission on Higher Education.

As noted in the article, libraries are playing a leadership role in responding to textbook costs. Over past six months, PASCAL has held eight workshops around the state to educate librarians about affordable learning resources and help them create materials to promote these options on their campuses to faculty, administration and students.

SCALE is just one of our efforts to make higher education more affordable through the cost-efficient provision of information resources to students. You can learn more at pascalsc.org.

The State publishes a cross section of the letters we receive from South Carolinians in order to provide a forum for our community and also to allow our community to get a good look at itself, for good or bad. The letters represent the views of the letter writers, not necessarily of The State.