Free Textbook Loan Program

Borrow

Every semester, we lend textbooks out free of charge to students upon request, with a one-semester loaning period.*

1. Fill out the request form
2. Wait for the confirmation with pick-up time and location.
3. Return by the provided deadline.

* Loaning period: from the first day of class to the end of the exam period in the same semester.

First-come, first-served. Free. Open to all McGill students, with priority given to students in the Faculty of Arts.

Donate

Donations are welcomed from everyone, including McGill students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community members.

Compensation: 1 book = $5 cash*

1. Fill out the donation form
2. Wait for the confirmation with drop-off time and location.
3. Drop off donations and receive compensation.

*Approval of donations and final amount of compensation are at the discretion of QPIRG-McGill.

Non-compensated donations: Come by our library at 3516 Park Avenue during opening hours and drop off donations without receiving compensation.

• Open Educational Resources, a initiative of SSMU (for general information, please see the Lib Guide on OERs at McGill

• Course Reserves Collection and Course Readings service of the McGill library

• and scarce student-led initiatives (ie. in departmental student associations, or on online student-administered forums) that distribute free PDFs of textbooks)

McGill students lack affordable access to print textbooks.

These resources are not always visible or present some pragmatic challenges to students. For example, at the McGill Library, students can only check out textbooks on Course Reserves for a short loaning period, typically ranging from 3 hours to 2 days, so they would either rush photocopying (which takes a lot of time that many students can’t afford in light of their other priorities) or cramping the materials before exams if they don’t own a print copy at home.

Plus, there is a limit on how many students can access the Course Reserves at any given time and there are copyright issues with for-profit publishers that prevent libraries from purchasing digital versions of textbooks, two major challenges already observed by McGill Library regarding the general inaccessibility of textbooks in higher education.

Additionally, for students who manage to afford textbooks, the books are often used once for a particular course and then either resold to future students of that course or neglected, adding to the monopolistic, for-profit system of academic publishing where required textbooks are gatekept by publishing houses at insufferable prices. Our program is thus a circular economy model where former students donate their textbooks to us in return for a modest compensation, which would substantially reduce textbook waste at the end of the academic year. These books will then be loaned free of charge to students in need in following semesters, advancing sustainability on campus.

Moreover, for low-income students who have to resort to the Course Reserves to have access to the textbooks, they would ideally want the same leisure as students who can afford the textbooks: to carry with them throughout the course, not just for a day or two. Therefore, our Free Textbook Loan Program will fill in this huge gap.

In sum, the Free Textbook Loan Program initiated and administered by QPIRG-McGill Alternative Library is born out of this context as a means to enhance students’ financial wellbeing and lessen the burden of higher education for low-income students at McGill.

Project Goals

• Promote universal access to print textbooks and other course materials.
• Enhance students’ financial wellbeing and lessen the burden of higher education.
• Implement a circular economy model with a bottom-up approach in a university setting.
• Provide a sustainable solution to the practical challenges that McGill Library faces.
• Encourage altruism on campus and create a healthy student community.
• Contribute to both social and environmental justice by actively counteracting educational inequity and reducing waste.
• Promote the community outreach and portfolio of QPIRG-McGill on campus.

Go to the Search Catalogue tab in the link above

Choose “Free Textbook Loan Program (QPIRG-McGill)” among the branches

Enter search phrases into the grey bar

Tip: Click on the drop-down menu “Default” and choose “Title”, “Author”, or any field for a specific search query.

Location

Free Textbook Collection: Arts Lounge (Room B-12), Basement, Leacock Building 855 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2T7*

* By appointment only. Please fill out the request or donation form and wait for confirmation.

QPIRG Alternative Library: 3516 Avenue du Parc, Montreal, Quebec H2X 2H7

Library and FTLP: library@qpirgmcgill.org

General inquiries: info@qpirgmcgill.org