ARTICLE 15-C

TEXTBOOK ACCESS ACT

Section 720. Definitions.

721. Pricing transparency.

722. Sales of textbooks, textbook bundles.

723. Special role of faculties in adoptions.

724. Policies addressing course material adoptions and

sample materials.

shall have the following meanings:

1. "Bundled" means a textbook and any other learning material,

including, but not limited to, workbooks, online technologies,

dictionaries, CD-ROMS, or books, packaged together to be sold for one

price.

2. "Institution of higher education" means any institution of

higher education, recognized and approved by the regents of the

university of the state of New York, which provides a course of study

leading to the granting of a post-secondary degree or diploma.

3. "Publisher" means any publishing house, publishing firm,

or publishing company that publishes textbooks and supplemental

materials.

4. "Textbook" means any textbook that is adopted for a course,

as determined by the faculty member or members or entity charged

with choosing that textbook.

5. "Supplemental materials" means materials that supplement the

primary textbook or textbooks that come in the form of another book,

online

technologies, a workbook, CD-ROM, or any other format, and that can

be used by a faculty member or a student during the teaching of a

course.

6. "Adopter" means any faculty member or academic department at

institutions of higher learning responsible for considering and

choosing textbooks and/or supplemental materials to be utilized in

connection with the accredited courses taught at institutions of higher

education.

all publishers of college textbooks shall, on request, make readily

available to prospective adopters of their products who are members

of the faculties or purchasing entities of institutions of higher

education the price at which the publisher would make the products

available to the college bookstore that would offer the products to

students.

2. For purposes of this section, the term "products" means

all versions of a textbook or set of textbooks, except custom

textbooks or special editions of textbooks, available in the subject

area for which a prospective adopter is teaching a course, including

supplemental materials, both when sold together or separately from a

textbook.

sold in the same manner as ordered by such faculty member or entity in

charge of selecting textbooks for courses. In the event such

product is unavailable as ordered, the bookstore, faculty, and

relevant publisher shall work together to provide the best possible

substitute that most closely matches the requested item or items,

and the publisher shall make available the price of such substitute

or substitutes readily available.

of higher education shall institute policies that encourage faculty

members or the entity in charge of textbook adoptions to place their

orders with sufficient lead-time to enable the university, or

contract-managed, bookstore to confirm the availability of the

requested materials and, when appropriate, the availability of used

textbooks or alternate digital formats.

materials. No employee at an institution of higher education shall

demand or receive any payment, loan, advance, goods, or deposit of

money, present or promised, for adopting specific course materials

required for course work or instruction; with the exception that the

employee may receive:

1. sample copies, instructor's copies, or instructional material,

that are not to be sold;

2. royalties or other compensation from sales of textbooks

that include such instructor's own writing or work;

3. honoraria for academic peer review of course materials; or

4. training in the use of course materials and learning

technologies.