Auxiliaries and Bookstore Resource Guide

AL$ “Directory of Providers” VPATs: AL$ vendor partners have either submitted a VPAT (voluntary product accessibility template) with Academic Technologies and have been reviewed by CSU Center for Accessible Media for compliance and proactive planning and/or they are in contract on at least one CSU campus and have been approved for accessibility compliance. They have submitted qualifications and parameters for provision on campuses and partnering with bookstores. Please help avoid double efforts and refer your campus Academic Technologies or Disabled Student Services departments to the following webpage: Directory of Providers 

Adaptive learning is the use of computer software which ‘adapts’ the presentation of the content according to the unique needs of each learner as indicated by their responses to questions, tasks and experiences. As a result, students receive an individualized education experience so they can achieve measurable learning outcomes and experience learning satisfaction. Examples are at AL$'s Adaptive Learning web page. 

Advisory Committee

a. Bookstore Advisory Team was established in 2012 with input invited from 23 campus bookstores. The committee meets once annually during fall term and via phone/email as needed for reviews, recommendations, and other issues. It is comprised of bookstore directors, course materials managers, regional managers. The 2021-2022 committee includes: Suzanne Donnelly, Rick Dorsey, Elaine Reed, Claude Damsa, Robert Munck, Dana Hagge, and Matt Hanson. Qualifications include quick email response to questions, availability to attend the annual meeting, and willingness to review and comment on programs.

Annual Meetings

b. Affordable Learning $olutions hosts an annual meeting for all bookstore directors, course materials managers, and regional managers annually. The meeting is held in duplicate in northern and in southern California to minimize travel expenses. For 2022 and to comply with COVID-19 concerns and restrictions, the meeting will be held virtually via Zoom on March 3 and 4, 2022. 

All the CSU campus bookstore sites can be found on the Bookstores web page. 

• Affordable Learning $olutions home page
• Faculty Resource page
• Free/OER Materials
• Lower Cost Materials 
• Campus Bookstores and Programs
• Immediate Access Programs
• Campus Showcases
• Campus Coordinators 
• Library Resources

• AB403 Kaira/Bonta/Salas Amendment to College Textbook ActThis link will take you to an external website in a new tab. 
• AB960 Brough Exempt sales taxThis link will take you to an external website in a new tab. 
• SB727 Galgiani Materials Innovative pricingThis link will take you to an external website in a new tab. 
• SB1359 MedinaThis link will take you to an external website in a new tab. 
• AB 798 Bonilla, Textbook Affordability ActThis link will take you to an external website in a new tab. 
• SB 1052/1053 Steinberg, Open Education Council COOL4EdThis link will take you to an external website in a new tab. 
• AB 317 Soloria, Textbook AffordabilityThis link will open a PDF file from an external website in a new tab. 
• AB 1548 Solorio, Textbook TransparencyThis link will open a PDF file from an external website in a new tab. 
• AB 2471 Lara, Transparency and FairnessThis link will take you to an external website in a new tab. 
• SB 48 Alquist, Electronic AlternativeThis link will take you to an external website in a new tab. 
• SB 216 Liu, Notice of textbook pricesThis link will take you to an external website in a new tab. 
• SB 386 Runner, Reducing pricesThis link will take you to an external website in a new tab. 
• SB 388 Calderon, Edition and Content  This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.                         
• SB 1328 DeLeon, Format and search engineThis link will take you to an external website in a new tab. 
• Sales Tax and Use Law, unbundled componentsThis link will take you to an external website in a new tab. 
• SB850 Zero Degree ProgramsThis link will take you to an external website in a new tab. 

Various marketing materials are available to download and reproduce from the AL$ websites. In addition, there is a set of exhibit materials including a medium-sized banner that bookstores may loan for their campus events. 

The AL$ webpage offers tools and resources to plan and market communications and events on the Supporting Materials web page. 

For further assistance with marketing resources and to reserve the bookstore loan items, please email sehrhorn@calstate.edu

CSU Bookstore Directors

The person with overall responsibility for the CSU campus bookstore.

CSU Bookstore Course Materials Managers

The person with responsibility for course materials.

Auxiliary Commercial Shops Contacts

The following list identifies the campus employee with overall responsibility for a foundation organization that oversees the bookstore, bookstore contract, and provision of course materials under contract to the campus.

California State University Academic Technologies partnered with Vital Source and developed vibrant interactive versions of Open Stax titles for faculty consideration and adoption. The goal is a more effective (than pdf format) resource at a very low cost designed to result in improved learning experiences and outcomes.

Open Stax is an initiative at Rice University that has created peer-reviewed open (free) textbooks in digital format. Aimed to compete with major publishers’ offerings, content is licensed under Creative Commons Attributions licenses and can be modified to suit different purposes by users.

Student benefits include highlighting and reviewing text easily; sharing notes with peers; end of chapter embedded quizzes; easy mobile device access; direct LMS links; interactive embedded vocabulary; complete accessibility for users with disabilities; standardized ereader; vibrant versus static pdf format.

Faculty benefits include viewing student interaction via an instructor dashboard; monitoring student progress throughout the materials; identifying students who may be falling behind; learning what content students find most relevant or most challenging; reviewing when students are readings and on what devices; monitoring assigned readings and learning who read before class; direct integration/linking into the LMS; improved student comprehension of content.

Prepared PowerPoint demonstrations and other support resources are available to stores by contacting the Auxiliary Bookstore Liaison at sehrhorn@calstate.edu

The presentations by Affordable Learning $olutions regarding Campus Store support, participation, programs and successes are available on request. Please contact the Auxiliary and Bookstore Liaison at sehrhorn@calstate.edu for these resources. Presentation venues include Auxiliary Organization Association conferences; Affordable Learning $olutions conferences, workshops, and visits; National Association of College Stores events; Bookstore Advisory Team meetings; Annual Bookstore meetings;  and CSU on-site campus events.

• AL$ Newsletter
• CAMPUS COORDINATORS
• STORE MEETING ARCHIVESThis link will take you to an external website in a new tab. 
• LIBRARIES

A Directory of Providers has been assembled by AL$ to assist faculty and stores in locating sources for materials that help lower costs for students. The participants in the program offer course materials in formats that provide significant savings over traditional materials. Many of these allow faculty to continue with their preferred content but in a non-traditional format. Each provider listed has supplied evidence of effective use on at least one CSU campus.

AL$ maintains resources for bookstores to participate in all AL$ programs and CSU/legal directives. Many may be accessed via the web. For assistance, contact the AL$ bookstore liaison at sehrhorn@calstate.edu

• Auxiliary policy, Title 5This link will open a PDF file. 
• Course Fees Executive order 1102This link will take you to an external website in a new tab. 
• Higher Education Opportunity ActThis link will take you to an external website in a new tab. 

CSU Immediate Access

This is a joint program in which students for a class have access at NO CHARGE to their major publisher course materials in digital format on the first day of class and retain access until the add/drop date deadline at no cost. At or prior to the add/drop date, the student will have the option to ‘opt-out’ electronically and discontinue access to the materials. Students who choose to continue will be charged for the materials and access continues. The cost is significantly lower than new, used, open market digital, and rental materials.

CSU Affordable Learning $olutions Immediate Access Programs are available via all campus bookstores and can be delivered through various software applications within the stores’ systems.

The opportunity to have access to materials on the first day of classes without having to pay for them is critically important to students who can only pay for their needs incrementally. The ability to actually use the product without cost and self-determine preferences in format is unique. While not a restrictive mandated ‘fee’, the opt-out program still affords the publisher's potential of improved sales and thus their willingness to offer significantly lower costs to students. Materials in Immediate Access programs are digitally-delivered full versions of traditional major-market textbooks thus faculty do not have to change their preferred content.

All of these improvements are extremely valuable to students and instrumental in students’ success which are basics of the Affordable Learning $olutions goals.

Course fees are mandatory fees for content or materials that students are required to have and use in a class and are charged at registration along with registration fee and are collected per policy. The use of course fee material is determined by academic departments/faculty. Course materials fees are described via Executive Order as Category III Fees: “Fees associated with state-supported courses specifically for materials and services used in concert with the basic foundation an academic course offering.”

Category III Course Fees must be submitted for approval on a campus-specific form from the department chair and the dean to the campus COURSE FEE COMMITTEE. The committees have different names on campuses but are generically referred as Course Fee Approval Committees. 

AL$ has developed ‘Five Easy Steps’ for faculty/departments to obtain course fee approval in collaboration with the campus store. Planning ahead is critical as the process has been noted take up to six months before start of classes. The campus store is in a position to assist faculty with pricing negotiations, delivery options, alternative formats, and determination of potential student saving

Easy “Five Steps” to Obtain Approval for Course Fees:

1. Select materials you wish students to have
2. Contact publisher/provider rep and request best CSU pricing
3. Complete the CSU AL$ standardized form
4. Attach to your campus’ course fee approval request form
5. Submit to your department office for chairperson’s approval and submission to the provost