Help! I can't afford my books!

You are NOT alone!
There are a lot of CIA students who cannot afford to purchase required or recommended reading materials for their classes. The library wants to help you find the materials you need to be successful in your classes at CIA.
Here are a few things you should definitely do:
1. Check the library
- See if the library already has a copy of your textbook. The easiest way to see if we have a copy is to use Quick Search (aka EBSCO Discovery) to look for the book.
- It's possible that your faculty member put the book on course reserves in the library. That means we have a copy of the book in our library that you can use for three hours at a time in the library. If your textbook is not on course reserves, let us know! We will put it on reserve so that it's available for you and your classmates. Log on to Canvas and check the library's page in Canvas for links to our course reserves. Tip: if the page is blank, then you need to log into Canvas.
- Need help? No problem. Stop by the library, start a chat, email us or call us on the phone. We want to help you find the materials you need. Contact us!
2. Ask your professor...
- if an older, less expensive edition is similar enough for you to use.
- to check with the CIA Library about putting a copy on course reserves OR to ask the library to purchase a copy for course reserves
- to check with the library director about free and/or affordable course material alternatives
3. Get creative!
- Stop by the library, start a chat, email us or call us on the phone. We want to help you find the materials you need without spending a lot of money! Contact us!
- Check Ohiolink to see if you can get a copy from another library. Remember to ask us for help if you don't know how to do this!
- Look for used copies or rentals online.
- Borrow or share with a friend.
4. Advocate for yourself and for other students!
Tell anyone and everyone about the issue. They need to know about the problem before they can help fix it. There are alternatives and we all need to work together to make learning materials more affordable!
Credit: This is a derivative of Help! I can't afford my books! (rb.gy/3imwp) by JMU Libraries, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY). Thank you to Liz Thompson at JMU Libraries.
Sage Skills: Business and Sage Skills: Student Success
The library is proud to offer access to two new resources from Sage.
Now more than ever, it is essential for students to connect with resources designed to help them attain the skills they need for current and future success. Sage Skills: Student Success and Sage Business Skills offer students a self-guided journey to practice and master the in-demand skill sets of the modern workforce. Together, the Sage Skills suite provides a flexible and engaging learning journey through themed modules that incorporate self-assessments, interactive scenarios, downloadable exercises, original videos, embedded datasets, and more. These tools combined with authoritative written material create a scholarly environment where students and faculty can independently navigate thousands of skills that will aid them in their academic and future careers. Faculty can link and embed skills and topics into Canvas, too!
Sage Skills: Business
Sage Skills: Business enables students to develop and practice real-world skills needed to successfully transition from campus to the modern workplace. This interactive digital resource features both academic and practitioner experts in a library of flexible learning tracks and offers students a self-guided journey to gain skill sets essential for professional success. Our access includes the following modules:
Sage Skills: Student Success
Sage Skills: Student Success enables students to develop and practice the skills needed to thrive at college or university. This interactive digital resource features the work of a diverse set of academic experts to help undergraduates achieve academic and personal success. It builds foundational skills for undergraduate students, including critical thinking, research, writing, evaluating information, finding and using data, study and communication skills, and how to apply academic skills in the workplace. Our access includes the following modules:
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