Do you own what you need to support what you teach?

Recent research shows libraries often already own assigned course materials, but faculty and students don't know. Here's what that gap looks like.

Every term, faculty assign readings. Every term, someone in the library tries to answer a simple question: do we already have what's being taught?

It sounds like a lookup. In practice it's a manual project that runs course by course, and the answer often doesn't reach the people who need it.

Recent studies show where the gaps are.

The library often already has it

At Northeastern Illinois University, a library team reviewed over 100 syllabi and made 27 assigned textbooks available as unlimited-user ebooks. Six of the 27 were already owned or licensed by the library. The instructors who assigned them didn't know. (Hosford & Remus, EBLIP, 2025)

Once the titles were connected to courses, they were used. The 27 ebooks were accessed 1,134 times in Fall 2024. The library's 472 print textbooks circulated 200 times.

Faculty and librarians rarely compare notes

Ithaka S+R's 2024 national survey found that 57% of instructors had never consulted a librarian before choosing course materials. 58% had never told a librarian after issuing a syllabus. Yet 61% said they often or occasionally prefer materials available through the library. (Ithaka S+R, 2024)

Instructors want to use what the library has. They just don't have an easy way to know what that is.

Coverage has limits

Not everything can be licensed. Temple University Libraries reported offering access to 31% of course texts in 2024-25, noting that major textbook publishers usually don't license ebooks to libraries. (Temple University Libraries, 2025)

That makes it more important to find the third that is available, and to know early where the rest falls short.

Matching is slow, manual work

In a 2025 national study of library-led textbook affordability programs, almost 30% of libraries said they spend more than 16 hours every term matching textbook adoptions to holdings. Respondents described late adoption lists, edition questions, and missing information on ebook license type, which staff gather by hand. (Scott & Scott, portal, July 2025)

Tools haven't removed the work yet. Teachers College, Columbia University processed 187 course lists with 4,077 citations in Fall 2025. After testing an AI syllabus assistant, the team reported no efficiency gain and did not turn it on. (Teachers College, Feb 2026)

It's bigger than textbooks

Textbook affordability is where most libraries start. The same course-by-course view answers broader collection questions:

Gaps: Which courses rely on materials the library can't provide, and do those gaps repeat across departments?
Faculty outreach: Which instructors should hear that their readings are already available?
What else fits: What does the library own that supports a course but isn't on the syllabus?
Use: Does collection use change when materials are tied to courses? NEIU's numbers suggest it can. We'd like to see more data.

What we're working on

That's the question we've been working on at WyderNet: how to see, course by course, whether the library has what's being taught.

WyderNet reads course materials, checks assigned readings against the library's collection, and flags missing materials or access issues. It supports sourcing open access and OER alternatives, and lets librarians publish a course collection with links for students.

If your library does this work today, we'd like to hear how. What takes the most time? What would you want to know that you can't see now?

Write to me at tamir@wydernet.com.