Textbook Information

For Students

Buying Textbooks and Course Materials

Textbooks are available at a variety of on-campus locations, including numerous campus-area bookstores.

Students may also be required to purchase course packets, lab equipment, and/or art materials. These items are available at campus or local stores.

Textbooks can be expensive, and some cost-saving alternatives are available. Students should be sure to purchase the correct textbook edition. The International Standard Book Number (ISBN), the 10 or 13-digit number that uniquely identifies books published internationally, is included in the textbooks listings if the instructor has provided it.

eTexts and other digital course materials are becoming more and more available to students for a fraction of the cost of printed materials. Read more about Engage eTexts.

Alternatives to Buying New Textbooks

  1. Look early for used copies. Check local bookstores that buy back textbooks.
  2. Borrow from a campus library.
    1. Campus libraries have copies of many course texts available for short-term loan (including high-cost textbooks funded with support from the UW Foundation Parent Fund).
    2. Visit the libraries’ website for details.
  3. Consider renting through a local bookstore or online textbook rental website.
  4. Consider purchasing textbooks online.
  5. Consider using online textbooks or ebooks.
    1. For students who own iPads, Kindles or other tablet devices, textbooks may be purchased and/or rented at a lower price than printed copies.

*Note: Independent websites and/or stores for purchasing and/or renting textbooks are private companies and are not affiliated with or endorsed by UW-Madison.

For Faculty and Staff

Instructors now have the ability to enter textbook information into the Faculty Center. This includes textbooks, materials, special instructions and website urls. Once displayed, this information is available to students in Course Search & Enroll.

All bookstores can retrieve the textbook information entered by instructors (including current enrollment and capacity levels).  If an instructor prefers to send their booklist to a local bookstore, they still should record textbook information via the Faculty Center so it will be available to students.  Note: In order to reduce textbook costs for students, instructors should enter textbook information as soon as it becomes available.

Instructors can also notify UW Libraries that they are interested in having items on reserve for students. Additional information is available at the UW Libraries webpage.

In August 2008 the University of Wisconsin-Madison launched an initiative to display textbook information to students in My UW-Madison. Faculty are being asked to enter textbook information directly into their faculty center which will then be available for display to students. The information is also being made available to any bookstore via the download links.

The Federal Government’s reauthorized Higher Education Opportunity Act was signed by President Bush in August of 2008. Among other requirements, the Act states that institutions will be required to disclose the ISBN and the retail price information of textbooks required on the institution’s course schedule. It further requires the institution to provide “its college bookstore” with the information on the textbooks that will be required at the institution. UW-Madison does not have its “own bookstore”, but by providing the information in a public space, it will be available to any bookstore. Review the Higher Education Opportunity Act.

eTexts and other digital course materials are becoming more and more available to students for a fraction of the cost of printed materials. Read more about Engage eTexts.

Information for Bookstores

To download the data files, on the link and select “Save Target As…” Files are stored on the website as a .csv file (comma-separated values) and can be opened and saved in Access, Excel, Notepad, Textpad or Wordpad.

The textbook data is refreshed every 2 hours, Monday – Friday starting at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 am/pm and at 12 noon.  On Saturday and Sunday the textbook data is refreshed every 6 hours starting at 5 am/pm and 11 am/pm.

How to use the data files

Data Dictionary

Appropriate use of the data files

Download the data by term

Disclaimer: The files below contain all active sections for a term and finalized and un-finalized textbook data. Un-finalized textbook data will have an ‘N’ in the Display column, which means the textbook is not currently displaying to students, staff, faculty or the public.

Fall

Spring

Summer

Library-reserve textbooks

Disclaimer: These .CSV files list the textbooks that instructors have requested to be put on reserve. The files contain finalized and unfinalized textbook data. Unfinalized textbook data will have an  ‘N’ in the Display column, which means the textbook is not currently displaying to students, staff, faculty or the public in Course Guide or in Class Search.