Faculty Resources
Course Material Ordering (Benchmark Dates)
The following benchmark dates are a guideline, subject to change.
For Fall term – May 15th
For Winter term - October 15th
For Spring/Summer - March 15th
Best Practices
It is recommended that faculty consult with publisher representatives on a regular basis to obtain up to date information on adopted course materials.
Some editions are updated more frequently in this new digital age, which may impact the titles being currently used. In many cases this necessitates a change to a product ISBN.
Digital Course Materials
Digital books fall into two main categories: eTextbooks and courseware. eTextbooks are typically PDF versions of the text content of a textbook, viewed using a browser-based platform. Courseware is a more interactive digital product, often including the eText embedded within (each major publisher has a version of this: Wileyplus, Mindtap, MyLab, Connect, etc.). The latter product can only be accessed using a course ID #, specific to each class, provided by the publisher to the instructor (the instructor then passes this ID along to the students in that class).
*The Campus Store does not provide the course IDs to students*
Digital Book Delivery (Campus Store)
The Campus Store has partnered with Campus EBookstore (CEI) and Willo Labs to provide digital course materials to students. These course materials will be made available through our online retail store: https://shop.smu.ca/Course/term?
CEI allows us to offer digital access codes for etextbooks and courseware.
Willo Labs has partnered with the Campus Store and Saint Mary’s to offer integrated digital books through our Learning Management System (LMS), Brightspace. This is a relatively new platform for us, piloted in summer 2021 and running successfully for multiple courses in Fall 2021 and Winter 2022. This integration allows students to purchase digital course materials through a link in their Brightspace course page, preserving the anonymity of their data, and without the need for an access code. Please contact Don Simpkin (don.simpkin@smu.ca, 902-491-6283) for more details.
Physical Textbooks
The university suspended physical textbook sales during the pandemic (summer 2020 through summer 2021). We resumed partial physical textbook sales in Fall 2021 and have now returned to full sale capacity for physical texts.
Challenges: physical text sales have dropped dramatically over a 10 year period, predating the pandemic but accelerated by online course delivery. Publishers have responded to this change in different ways, but some have chosen to opt for digital delivery only. Those publishers that continue offer print textbooks are now having difficulty printing their text due to supply chain and inflationary hurdles. The default is now the digital book in most cases. This a fluid situation and changes weekly. Recommendation: check with the publisher about which versions of your course materials are available prior to placing your order and be prepared to pivot if your physical textbook request may be delayed or cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.
How to order course materials
We do have a web-based order form that faculty may use to order all of their course materials. It is available from all department admins, but is not yet available on our website. This section will be updated as we move through the 2022-2023 academic term.
Publisher Representatives Updated 25th May, 2022
Cengage Canada Christina Rostek christina.rostek@cengage.com
McGraw-Hill Frank Barrett frank.barrett@mheducation.com
Wiley John Horne johorne@wiley.com
Amanda Inglese ainglese@wiley.com
Oxford U Pr Devin Ruelland Devin.Ruelland@oup.com
MacMillan Gilaine Waterbury gilaine.waterbury@macmillan.com
Pearson Various Click Here to Find a Rep
WW Norton Jennifer Sutton jsutton@wwnorton.com
Lana Webber lwebber@wwnorton.com
Sage Jill Bos Jill.Bos@sagepub.com
For other publisher representation, please check the relevant publisher website.