Indiana: IUPUI University Library Prepares to Launch “Books on Demand” Instant Book Ordering System For Faculty, Staff, and Students

From a IUPUI Announcement:

Just like you would your own Spotify playlist, you will soon be able to contribute to building the book collection at University Library for yourself and the IUPUI community.

Starting Feb. 5, the library is handing off the power of ordering books to faculty, staff and students to decide what they want by introducing Books on Demand, the instant library book ordering system.

This change in process will not only save money and change the way the library purchases books, but it will also help the IUPUI community by providing a more relevant selection of books to support active research and class papers.

Once the program launches, when a member of the IUPUI community finds a book they want to read, they’ll click the “Get This for IUPUI” button online and choose either the e-book format or the print version. E-books will deliver within two hours of the request, and print books will arrive in a week for fast delivery or two weeks with regular delivery.

“This process will allow us to get the newest research in a variety of fields with a more efficient system,” said Willie Miller, informatics and journalism librarian and resource development liaison. “We’ll have the latest available books, published in nearly every subject area, on our campus and in our catalog in about a month. We’re also excited to be providing books that we know people will definitely use, and probably use more than once.”

If someone wants a book that’s not on the list, the Books on Demand webpage will have a whole section for participants to suggest options. Most of the books will be academic in nature, yet some popular books will also be found.

It’s also possible that a few textbooks could be offered through this service, but depending on what books faculty choose as the required text, not all will be available. The ones that are listed will give students the opportunity to share and reduce costs by checking out the book from the school library instead of paying for it or renting it themselves.

Direct to IUPUI University Libraries Books on Demand Info Page and Demo Videos

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