Course Materials

Textbooks

While the library does not purchase physical textbooks to add to our collection, we provide textbook support in other ways.

FAST and eCampus - The library partners with Drake's bookstore vendor, eCampus, to help with course material adoptions and identify situations in which library-owned material (usually eBooks) could be used by students at no charge rather than purchasing their own copy.

Information about textbook adoptions and the FAST adoption portal are available in the ITS Knowledge Base, as well as in the Help section of FAST once you've logged in. If you have questions about adopting course materials. If you have specific questions about using FAST or textbook adoptions, contact the Drake Bookstore Team at drake@ecampus.com.drake@ecampus.com.

Faculty Select - Explore textbook alternatives, available at no cost to students, by searching Faculty Select. This search tool on the EBSCO platform includes Open Access books, Open Educational Resources (OER) from several OER sources, library-owned eBooks, and eBooks that the library will purchase to be used in your courses. This video provides a short introduction to using Faculty Select.

Course Reserves

Instructors can put textbooks and other course materials on Reserve at the library for students to use on a short-term basis. Visit our Course Reserves page for more information on adding both physical and online materials.

Faculty Proxy for Library Materials

You can assign one or more individuals as proxies to borrow and pick up library materials on your behalf. Get more information and submit a proxy request at our Faculty Proxy page.

Research & Course Guides

The library's subject-based Research Guides can be used to supplement course materials and assist students with research materials that will be most useful for their course's assignments. If you are interested in working with a librarian to create a Course Guide of library resources, visit our Subject Experts page and contact the librarian matched with your discipline.

Primary Sources

Drake University Archives & Special Collections faculty and staff work with instructors to design sessions that incorporate primary sources into their curriculum. They also offer tours of the Archives and hands-on sessions, giving students a chance to interact with unique materials from the Archives, as well as instruction sessions that provide guidance on using the Archives and finding primary source materials online.

Visit the Archives Teaching Support page for more information.

Persistent Links to Library Resources

You may want to link to resources available through Cowles Library subscriptions, such as journal articles, dissertations, eBooks, etc. To ensure that these links work for your students both on and off campus, visit our page on Finding & Creating Persistent Links.