Where to get course materials you need?
-
Redbird Spirit Shop
- The Redbird Spirit Shop is the official bookstore of Illinois State University, with two convenient locations on campus. The North St. location is the hub for all things textbooks. Their website is a gateway for identifying course materials and purchasing and/or renting textbooks.
-
Milner Library
- Milner Library is a place to borrow or access course materials for free for a period of time -- the library does not sell or rent course materials for the semester like the bookstore. Milner has a few different options for accessing textbooks:
- Course Reserves
- eTextbooks
- Borrowing from other libraries via I-Share and Interlibrary Loan
- Milner Library is a place to borrow or access course materials for free for a period of time -- the library does not sell or rent course materials for the semester like the bookstore. Milner has a few different options for accessing textbooks:
-
Beyond ISU
- Online retailers
- There are many online sellers to purchase and rent textbooks directly
- Textbook publishers
- Some courses might require materials only available directly from the publisher's websites or platforms.
- Online retailers
Buying or Renting Textbooks
- AbeBooks (buy, sell back)Some textbooks have free shipping, and you can search specifically for them here.
- Alibris Textbooks (buy/rent/sell back)Can search for all the ISBNs for your books at the same time. Offers promotion codes for discounts on textbooks. Rental textbooks have a 21 day Worry-Free Guarantee.
- Amazon Textbook Rentals (rent, sell back)A new service from Amazon to compete with online text book renters. Texbooks may be purchased after 30 days.
- Barnes & Noble Textbooks (buy/rent/sell back)Has competitive prices. Often offers access to online materials accompanying textbooks that can be hard to get through other sellers. Also has a 14 day free return policy.
- BetterWorldBooks (buy, sell back)Textbook purchase with free worldwide shipping on all textbooks.
- Campus Book Rentals (buy or rent)Text book rentals with free shipping.
- Chegg (buy or rent, sell back)Free courtesy etextbooks for 7 days while waiting for print textbooks to arrive.
- eCampus (rent, buy, sell back)Free shipping on orders over $59. Also offers coupons.
- Knetbooks (rent)Textbook rentals with free shipping. Also offers coupons.
- RedShelf (rent, buy)ETextbooks only. Offers over 1 million eBook titles for rent or purchase. eBook reader enables note taking, highlighting, definitions of words, and flash card creation.
- TextBooks.com (buy, sell back, ebooks)Free shipping on orders of $25 and up, 50% cash back at the end of the semester on Guaranteed Cash Back books.
- TextbookRush (buy/rent/sell back)Also rent/buy eTextbooks. Free shipping on orders over $35. Prepaid shipping labels when selling them a book. Thirty day satisfaction guarantee
- VitalSource (rent, buy)ETextbooks only. Over 1 million titles available. eBook reader enables note taking, highlighting, flash cards, unfamiliar word lookup, and read aloud.
