No. Faculty retain full academic freedom under Equitable Access.

Equitable Access covers academically-focused materials that are designed to present and/or assess the understanding of facts, concepts, theories and principles as part of an instructional study plan. Covered materials must allow for institutional payment for individual students, and must also be available for direct purchase by individual students without an Equitable Access subscription. Whether you are assigning paid publisher content or free resources, all of your textbooks remain available for adoption.

Examples of items eligible for coverage by Equitable Access are: textbooks, courseware, or other academic software with an International Standard Book Number (ISBN); campus publications such as course readers, textpaks and lab manuals.

Examples of some items not included in Equitable Access but which may be available for purchase at the Campus Store are: physical materials and supplies such as lab coats, goggles, school and art supplies; computers, classroom response tools and third-party e-readers; commercial software designed for professional use rather than to present academic concepts and theories.

There is no change to the current process. You will adopt content through the Collect Adoption tool. If you do not already have access to Collect you can request a login by emailing the UC Davis Stores Textbook team at [email protected].

Yes. You are free to continue to use the same content as previous terms.

For Reprographics content, there is no change to the current process. You will adopt your content through Reprographics, they will contact UC Davis Stores Textbook team, and the Campus Store will display these items in the Bookshelf reader, if digital, or made available at the Campus Store for pickup by students.

For a library resource, use the “Comments Field” on the Collect Adoption tool to list the material being used. If you have the library link, please provide that in the same “Comments Field.” If you do not have the link, please specify that in the comments and the UC Davis Stores Textbook team will work with the Library to acquire it.

For OER content, use the “Comments Field” on the Collect Adoption tool to provide the free link to the OER content, which will be displayed in the Bookshelf e-reader that will be seen by the students.

This process remains unchanged. You will reach out to your publisher representative to request a desk copy. When you speak to your publisher representative, ask them about the Vital Source Faculty Sampling Service.

Equitable Access is a flat-rate, term-level program that covers all required textbooks for every undergraduate student. The fee is not based on individual classes. Therefore, if you decide to cancel an adoption for your class there is no additional cost or reduction to the student.

Yes, students can choose to opt out each quarter. Please view the Student FAQ on the main Equitable Access page for complete details on the opt-out process.

Students can easily purchase individual digital textbooks and other digital course content within their Canvas Bookshelf. For courseware (depending on the platform) students may purchase an access code within Bookshelf or directly through the publisher.

UC Davis Stores will not be selling in-stock undergraduate print textbooks to those who have opted out of the Equitable Access program; those books have been purchased at lower prices based on the subscription model per our contract with the publishers. However, students can special order print textbooks from the special order desk in the lower level of the Campus Bookstore at current retail prices.

Faculty that need assistance accessing Bookshelf should contact the Equitable Access team via email and a representative will assist you.

Yes, for certain materials. E-books that students read in Bookshelf can be downloaded to a device and read after the term is over by using the Bookshelf app. Students may also keep any physical textbooks they receive under Equitable Access. E-books that are a part of a homework manager or courseware are only usable for the quarter during which they were originally provided; unless otherwise noted, access to these materials expires once the term is over.

The financial model for Equitable Access is similar to the UC Davis Student Health Insurance Program (SHIP), where all participating students pay the same rate for coverage, regardless of individual medical needs and costs. Unitrans uses a similar model, whereby all students pay the same fee, no matter how many times each student rides the bus. With Equitable Access, all students pay the same rate, regardless of individual textbook costs. Surplus funds from students whose textbooks cost less than $169 are used to cover students whose textbooks exceed $169. This helps create equity and ensure textbook access for all undergraduate students.

As a non-profit department within the Division of Student Affairs, UC Davis Stores directs surplus funds back into the Equitable Access program in two ways: by lowering the price of the program and/or awarding full textbook grants to the lowest-income UC Davis students. In 2021-22, we were able to lower the program rate from $199 to $169 and award 3,000 grants totaling $507,000. Feedback from the Equitable Access Student Advisory Council showed support for continuing to use surplus funds for textbook grants for low-income students. In the 2022-23 academic year, we were able to provide over 4,000 grants totaling $700,000 to students in need.