Faculty and Staff FAQ
Continue to main contentHave a question? Here are some frequently asked questions regarding textbook information specifically for Faculty and Staff.
Two calendar years, per University Policy.
Yes – all sections of a course must use the same textbook, per University Policy.
One textbook per course, additional books can be sold at Southeast Bookstore.
The policy is a minimum of two years; you may keep the adopted book as long as we can still obtain the book if needed from our vendors. If the book becomes out of print, we will recommend that a newer edition be considered.
Three weeks prior to the first day when students are able to register for classes for the upcoming term.
HEOA stands for Higher Education Opportunity Act and please see our About Textbook Rental page for a full description of the law.
Contact the publisher or publisher rep. They will provide them free of charge. Textbook Rental is not allowed to obtain instructor copies. Please contact Textbook Rental if you need publisher contact information.
We only maintain enough inventories for our undergraduate students; our books are reserved for only those students who are enrolled in the course. If we have enough extra copies, we will be happy to loan a book until you receive your desk copy from the publisher. However, books on loan cannot exceed one semester or they will be charged to your faculty account or department account.
Regrettably, we will have to charge you for the replacement cost of the book.
If the book you are interested in is no longer available as a desk copy, you may purchase a copy from our inventory. Please contact us for pricing information and let us know whether it will be a purchase on your faculty account or department account.
Let Textbook Rental know if you would like for the students to have access to the CD as well as the textbook. This can be noted on the textbook requisition form or you can contact Textbook Rental at ext. 2538.
As long as all the faculty teaching the same course are in agreement and everyone uses the same textbook for the required two calendar years, this is a great option in Textbook Rental. However, custom textbooks require a longer process time from the publisher; please submit these requests as soon as possible.
The faculty member needs to discuss this with the publisher, as each publisher handles this situation differently.
Textbook Rental is by far the best money can buy for Southeast students. It would be difficult to find a textbook for less than $35.00 plus tax. Many Universities across the country are starting rental programs to save students money. There has also been federal legislation encouraging Universities to do this as well. We work very hard to keep prices as low as possible for the students and the operation contributes back to the University in the form of scholarship support. Therefore, it is important to keep the money on campus as publishers and other vendors are not contributing to the University.
Rental textbooks are shipped to the regional campuses for students to check out.
According to the University website, "students can log into a webinar class from anywhere as long as they have a high-speed internet connection, a web camera and a headset microphone." It makes no mention of software; this is probably a question for CSTL.
It is not possible to rent an eBook. Textbooks in eBook formats have an expiration date – unlike trade books and can’t be used by multiple users. If you would like an eBook format, please contact the bookstore.
The request for additional books or materials will need to be requested directly to Southeast Bookstore.
Please contact the Southeast Bookstore for detail information regarding buy-backs.
Often publisher reps will quote the cost of the textbook, not the retail selling price. For accurate pricing contact Jane at ext.2737, you can also go to the undergraduate course book lookup.
There are several reasons for the high prices for textbooks, one being that there is a relatively small market compared to general books, also there are many contributors who include copyright material within the text. The bookstore uses industry wide standard markups on textbooks. This standard markup has not increased in 20 years. The pricing from the publishers has risen 60% in the last 10 years.
Graduate students can rent the primary rental textbook if they are enrolled in (100-599) level courses and/or cross listed 400-600 level courses. All other books and materials are available at the Southeast Bookstore.
Students who are taking an incomplete can keep their book without being charged another rental fee as long as we receive a confirmation email from the instructor. Please include in the email the student’s name, their S0#, the course number that they are completing and when you expect them to finish. Once we receive your email confirmation, we will change their book rental status to incomplete.
The rental fee is $35 plus tax per course regardless of the number of textbooks for that course.
By 4 p.m. the Monday after finals week, all textbooks are due. Students who do not return the textbook by the deadline are charged the purchase price of the textbook.
Yes, students may purchase any of their textbooks during the semester and the rental fee is applied to the purchase price of the textbook.
Students may contact us through email, rentabook@semo.edu, call (573) 651-2236, or they can visit our website.