The program began with a simple goal: provide donated textbooks free of charge to first-generation students and those with low incomes who might have difficulty purchasing their own.
Now, 10 years later, the Textbook Lending Program continues to grow as students discover the resource.
The program was inspired by Emory’s First-Generation Low-income Partnership (FLIP) student organization in 2016. In fall 2024, FLIP handed over management of the program to a partnership between Emory Libraries and Emory First. Emory First, part of Belonging and Community Justice in Campus Life, serves as a central hub for all students to flourish, including first-generation college students and students from low- and limited-income backgrounds.
Through the partnership, the curriculum-based Textbook Lending Program offers free, short-term loans of textbooks to students in Emory College 100- and 200-level required courses with an enrollment of at least 50 students.
Since the initiative launched, Emory Libraries has added more than 165 copies of 100 titles to Course Reserves, now providing textbooks for 67 Emory College courses.
One or more physical copies are provided for most eligible courses, although e-books are included when available. Electronic versions of some Textbook Lending Program items may be accessed via Library Search, the Course Reserves system or Canvas.
The textbooks may be checked out for three hours at a time. Due to high demand, textbooks cannot be renewed or requested online, although students can check them out again after returning them if no one else is waiting.
Program use grows with student awareness
“During the 2024-25 academic year, the Textbook Lending Program recorded 127 checkouts of 43 textbook titles, which is approximately the number of courses the program supported that year,” says Mike Jones, Emory First director. He says the initiative saw a 15% increase in fall 2025 checkouts compared with fall 2024.
“We are actively spreading the word and, as student awareness of the program grows, so does student use,” Jones says, noting that Emory College’s fall 2025 undergraduate student population numbered approximately 6,400 students, including more than 900 first-generation college students.
“This year, as last, the Textbook Lending Program pilot is one of many ways — including through other Course Reserves, e-books and open educational resources — that Emory Libraries continues to support and promote affordable student and faculty access to course materials,” says Chris Palazzolo, director of Collections and Open Strategies at the Robert W. Woodruff Library.
More information, including titles of textbooks available through the program, can be found on the Emory Libraries’ Textbook Lending Program webpage. Other affordable teaching and learning materials, including open educational resources, are compiled on the Emory Libraries’ Textbooks and Teaching Support site.