Textbook Policy

Policy Purpose

This policy provides professional and ethical guidelines for the selection and adoption of physical or electronic textbooks or other instructional materials for CSN courses to minimize costs to students without compromising academic standards and academic freedom.

Policy Details

Policy Category

Faculty

Effective Date

12/28/2006

Last Revised

10/21/2025

Next Review

10/2029

Policy Statement

  1. Each full-time faculty member will select the title and number of required textbooks and/or other supplemental instructional materials and supplements appropriate for each of their course offerings. Any such decisions must be made within the timeframe and procedures established by their department and/or by federal or state law, whichever is most restrictive.
    1. Each department/discipline will have the option of determining the required instructional materials for part-time instructors, emergency hires, and full-time faculty who have not submitted an adoption by the deadline. With the prior written approval of the department chair, a part-time instructor may choose to utilize their own materials.
    2. The instructional materials for a course may only be standardized when required for accreditation. If accreditation mandates standardization, all instructors teaching the course must use the designated materials.
    3. Any decision to standardize the materials for a specific course must be revisited by the department/discipline at least once every two (2) years.
    4. Receiving compensation, other than royalties, contingent on the adoption of textbooks and/or other materials that are not identified as Open Educational Resources (OER) may be unprofessional and/or unethical and is unacceptable. Receiving nominal remuneration for the review of textbooks or course materials is acceptable.
    5. If a discipline committee is designated to select standard textbooks and/or supplements, faculty members who are authors of materials being considered or who are related to an author as defined by institutional policy may not serve on the committee.
  2. The department/discipline/instructors should:
    1. Take student cost and input into consideration when selecting from among different textbooks/supplement options and, where possible, consider lower-cost, high-quality options such as online materials, eBooks, open educational resources, and 3-ring binder formats.
    2. Make an effort to use the same textbooks/supplements for at least 2 years.
    3. Consider using the approved learning management system to deliver material electronically in compliance with fair use and copyright laws.
    4. Take into consideration the choice of textbooks and materials used by other instructors teaching the same course.
    5. Take into consideration the use of textbooks and materials for sequential courses.
    6. Ensure all adopted textbooks and materials will be used during the delivery of the class.

  3. Faculty requiring their own text or supplemental materials for class:

    Pursuant to the Board of Regents Handbook, Title 4, Chapter 12 and Nevada Revised Statute (NRS) 281.230, faculty are encouraged to create their own scholarly works and are eligible for corresponding remuneration.

    The practice of contributing to a body of knowledge by faculty members in their chosen fields of study through the development of educational materials, e.g., textbooks, case studies, custom books, workbooks, is a practice that is not only acceptable, but actively encouraged and supported by peers, division directors, and vice presidents.

    To manage any conflict of interest, an instructor of record at the College must inform the appropriate director or their designated representative/committee before requiring students to purchase educational materials that have been written, co-written, or edited by them, and from which they shall receive royalties of any kind. The director or designee will review the required material to ensure that it is consistent with the requirements in this policy.

    In order to avoid such conflict, or the appearance thereof, it is strongly recommended that faculty submit self-authored course materials that will be required for students' purchase or peer review prior to assigning the textbook to such faculty member's students.

    The peer review should be conducted by at least three tenured faculty members. If a majority of the faculty members determine the assignment of the faculty-authored textbook or other course material is appropriate given the subject matter of the course and the content of the faculty-authored material, the College will presume that a conflict of interest does not exist.

    Course material adoptions of this nature must be consistent with the following:

    1. The faculty member's direct supervisor must approve the use of self-authored materials.
    2. Faculty must submit and obtain the requisite approval using the form in Attachment B prior to submitting book orders. The approving authority shall retain the approval form for two (2) years, so it will not be necessary for faculty to complete a form for the same book/class more often than every two (2) years.
    3. Where applicable, materials must be properly copyrighted by the authors or corresponding publishers.
    4. If students are required to purchase the materials, they must also be available for sale to any interested party.
    5. CSN faculty are prohibited from making sales directly to students.
    6. Faculty members who create their own scholarly works are encouraged to make them accessible via OER, and, if appropriate, utilize CSN Printing Services and sell the materials at cost in the CSN Bookstores.
  4. Any dispute over the adoption of any instructional materials (textbook and supplements) will be resolved by the department chair responsible for the discipline. If the faculty member disagrees with the decision of the department chair, it may be appealed to the dean. If the instructor is also the department chair, creating a conflict of interest, the Vice President of Academic Affairs shall resolve the dispute. The decision of the dean or the Vice President of Academic Affairs is final.
  5. Departments, in conjunction with the instructors, should, prior to the first class meeting of the term, attempt to provide reserve copies of textbooks/supplements to the campus library where each class is taught. For online and remote classes, an attempt should be made to provide reserve copies to all campus libraries.

Procedure

If a faculty member wishes to use self-authored materials, prior to submitting book orders, the faculty member must complete and submit the “Faculty Request to Assign Their Own Materials” form found in Attachment B and obtain prior approval.

Authority and Cross-Reference Links

Disclaimer

The president has the discretion to suspend or rescind all or any part of this policy or related procedure(s). The president shall notify the appropriate CSN personnel, including the Executive Sponsor and shared governance leaders, of the suspension or rescission.

Questions about this policy should be referred to the Executive Sponsor.

Most Recent Changes

Version 4:

  1. Changed from 10 pt to 12 pt Arial font to comply with NSHE accessibility standards and ADA requirements.
  2. II.A.1: Clarified that a department chair may approve a part-time instructor to choose their own materials.
  3. II.A.3: Clarified when and how materials for a course may be standardized.
  4. II.A.4: Revisitation clause.
  5. II.C.6: Section added to encourage faculty who create resources to make them OER (Open Educational Resource).
  6. II.D: Clarified the dispute resolution procedure.
  7. IV: Added links to the Intellectual Property section in the Board of Regents Handbook and NRS.

Attachments

  • Attachment A: Version History
  • Attachment B: Form - Faculty Request to Assign Their Own Materials

Attachment A: History

Version 4:

  • 10/21/2025 - Resigned for publication by Faculty Senate Chair (T. Sherman) and VPAA, General Counsel, and President (S. Klippenstein). It was previously signed by President (F. Zaragoza) but never published.
  • 1/28/2024 - Approved by CSN President (Federico Zaragoza)
  • 1/5/2024 - Recommended by Faculty Senate (P. Villa)
  • 11/15/2023 - Revised and Edited by Faculty Senate Chair and VPAA based on feedback from General Counsel at the request of President Zaragoza (P. Villa and J. McCoy)
  • 9/16/2023 - Reviewed by General Counsel (D. Pieruschka)
  • 12/9/2022 - Recommended by Faculty Senate (T. Sherman)
  • 12/7/2022 - Revised and Edited by Faculty Ethics Committee (E. Moreau)

Changes:

  1. Changed from 10 pt to 12 pt Arial font to meet comply with NSHE Accessibility standards and ADA requirements.
  2. II.A.1: Clarified that a department chair may approve a part-time instructor to choose their own materials.
  3. II.A.3: Clarified when and how materials for a course may be standardized.
  4. II.A.4: Revisitation clause.
  5. II.C.6: Section added to encourage faculty who create resources to make them OER (Open Educational Resource).
  6. II.D: Clarified the dispute resolution procedure.
  7. IV: Added links to the Intellectual Property section in the Board of Regents Handbook and NRS.

Version 3:

  • 12/06/2017 - Approved by CSN President (M. Richards)
  • 12/06/2017 - Reviewed by General Counsel (R. Hinckley)
  • 11/17/2017 - Recommended by Faculty Senate (J. Acree)
  • 11/03/2017 - Revised and Edited by Faculty Ethics Committee (J. Matovina)

Changes:

  1. Section II.A.1: Removed “by the deadline.”
  2. Section II.A.2: Added passage to clarify that full-time faculty members should not be subjected to undue influence regarding the selection of materials for their classes.
  3. Sections II.A.5-6: Sections were originally a single section. General Counsel recommended splitting into two separate sections.
  4. Section II.A6.a: Instead of both the dean and the supervisor, only the faculty member's supervisor will need to approve the use of self-authored materials.
  5. Section II.A.6.b: The approving authority shall retain the original authorization form for two years.
  6. II.B: The supervisor of the approving authority will resolve any dispute over a textbook adoption.
  7. Section II.C.4: Added passage indicating instructors should consider textbooks and materials used by other instructors of the same course.
  8. Section II.C.5: Added passage indicating instructors should consider textbooks and materials used in sequential courses.
  9. Section II.C.6: Added passage indicating all adopted materials should be used during the delivery of the class.
  10. Section III: Procedure section was added.
  11. Section IV: Authority and Cross References section was added.
  12. Appendix B: The form was changed so that only the approval of the immediate supervisor is needed.
  13. Grammatical corrections throughout.

Version 2:

  • 4/08/2015 - Approved by CSN President Mike Richards
  • 4/06/2015 - Reviewed by General Counsel (Richard Hinckley)
  • 4/06/2015 - Recommended by the Faculty Senate (J. Mandel)
  • 9/12/2014 - Revised and Updated by Ethics Committee to include faculty-authored textbooks
  • 10/24/2013 - Revised and Updated by the Faculty Senate Policy Review Committee (C. Milne)

Changes:

  1. Converted to the approved format Gen 1.2.
  2. Wrote a policy purpose.
  3. Updated the policy to include different textbook formats.

Version 1:

  • 01/04/2007 - Approved by CSN President Richard Carpenter
  • 12/28/2006 - Recommended by the Faculty Senate (A. Pandey)

Attachment B: Faculty Request to Assign Their Own Materials