Textbooks & Course Materials

Course Materials are only available to order online at bookstore.hope.edu. All course materials must be ordered online, as textbooks are no longer shelved in the bookstore.

Textbooks & Physical MaterialsBound books, loose leaf, access code cards

• Purchase online via Bookstore account
• Pick up at the Bookstore or delivered to residential halls

Textbooks are pulled and packed for you by our bookstore team with fast turnaround times. We provide convenient in-store pick throughout the school year. You will receive an email from the bookstore when your order is ready for pick up! Remember to shop early for the best selection of used books!

Pricing and Used Books
Textbook prices can vary widely, often depending upon your major and year of study. The good news? Textbook prices have been declining steadily now for the past 8–10 years, and the bookstore offers a great selection of new and used books. We actively procure as many used copies of books as possible, and our students are still our number one source for used books — so please make every effort to sell your books back to the bookstore at the end of each semester. Book buyback is a great way to keep your course material costs to a minimum.

Also, please note that used books are not always available for all classes; as you get into your major with more specific topics, used copies may be more difficult to obtain.

Returns

• Returns accepted through the end of the drop/add period only
• Request a return authorization online via Bookstore account
• Bring return item(s) to the store
• Show return authorization

Course PacksPrinted materials customized by faculty

• Printed in house
• Purchased online via Bookstore account
• Pucked up at the Bookstore or delivered to residential halls

Coursepacks are compilations of material from books, magazines, online articles and other sources that allow a professor to create a customized “book” for a class using only materials that will be used during the course. Doing this helps students save by not requiring multiple books for the course, only one comprehensive custom coursepack. The bookstore pays copyright fees attached to this material when creating the course packet for publication. When the same coursepack is reused again, it can be sold at book buyback.

Returns

• Returns accepted through the end of the drop/add period only
• Request a return authorization online via Bookstore account
• Bring course pack to the store
• Show return authorization

VouchersLab handouts, notebooks, theater tickets, chemistry goggles, etc., provided by faculty

• Purchased online via Bookstore account
• Item(s) covered by voucher are picked up in class

Vouchers are required for students to purchase in order to supply students with items or provide services used in some classes. This may include lab handouts, notebooks, photocopy costs, theater tickets, subscription services, chemistry goggles, etc. Vouchers are purchased through the bookstore, and then students are required to show their receipt of purchase to their professor to receive class materials and services.

Returns

• Returns accepted through the end of the drop/add period only
• Request a return authorization online via Bookstore account
• Return the items to the appropriate professor/department

Digital BooksLink to an online book

• Perpetual VS, 365 VS, 180 VS, 90 VS, 60 VS: Number of days active
  • VS: Stand for VitalSource, which is Hope College's digital content provider
  • Perpetual VS: Perpetual licenses will have a duration of five years for online access
  • 365/180/90/60: The number of days you will have access to the digital content

• Purchased online via Bookstore account
• Accessed on student VitalSource Bookshelf
  • No account? Use provided link to create one
  • Account exists? Update bookshelf/library

A growing trend with higher education publishers is to offer less expensive digital options. Digital books, (also called e-books) may be available as a substitute for a print or bound book. The bookstore, working to keep student textbooks costs to a minimum, will offer a digital option when available. We work with our third-party digital provider, VitalSource, to offer digital books when approved by faculty. Digital books listed on our website can be charged to your student account or paid by credit card. Students will receive an email from  do.not.reply@vitalsource.com, where you will be prompted to register you digital book on VitalSource’s e-book platform, Bookshelf, found at bookshelf.vitalsource.com.

Digital books not found through our bookstore website, may be available through our white label store, hopecollege.vitalsource.com. Search by the author, title or ISBN to see if the book you need is available in digital format.

Returns

• Returns accepted through the end of the drop/add period only
• Request a return authorization online via Bookstore account
• Nothing to physically return

Inclusive Access (IA)All course materials are digital

• No order necessary — automatically charged to student account after drop/add period
• Faculty provides link in Moodle
• If you do not want to use the IA materials you must “opt out”
  • If you “opt out” you are responsible to find the book yourself

Inclusive Access (IA) is a course material program that delivers digital content to students at a reduced cost.

If you see the book you need is listed as “Inclusive Access Only,” then you do not purchase the book through bookstore website! The bookstore works with the publisher and your instructor to provide substantial savings to you over the print version of the book.

Students are automatically enrolled in the program when they register for the course and can “opt out” any time prior to the Drop/Add deadline. Students that opt out will need to find the materials on their own, as the bookstore will only offer this one option for IA titles. Students will be billed on their student account for all IA materials the third week of the semester and after the Drop/Add period.

Returns

• “Opt out” by deadline (end of drop/add period) to not be charged

Unavailable Books

Several factors may affect bookstore inventory and the number of copies that are ordered. Enrollment fluctuations, publisher backorders, old edition inventory, marketplace pricing and digital book options all play a factor in the number of copies the bookstore stocks. Faculty may also add titles to their courses at any time. Typically, bookstore inventory is set 3–4 weeks before classes start. If you cannot locate a book you need, please reach out to the bookstore. We will reorder a copy for you when inventory is available.

Faculty Services

Textbook Orders for your classroom

As a general rule, textbook adoption forms are due at the bookstore on the following schedule: 

• Fall Semester Form: Due late March
• Spring Semester Form: Due late October
• May, June and July terms and Summer Seminars: Due March 1

The bookstore has partnered with VERBA Software to provide an online textbook adoption tool that will help streamline the book adoption process. If you are teaching at Hope College, you will receive a personalized e-mail from the bookstore listing the course(s) and section(s) you are teaching. Simply follow the online process to submit your book orders.

Guidelines

Partial orders are welcome. It is essential to know what books you intend to reuse, both for book buyback and for overstock returns. Do not order a title if you are not sure you’ll use it.

• Use one form per course
• If you do not need books for your course, please tell us
• Supply complete information, including your best estimate of class size
• Sign the form
• Please do not use the phrase “same as before”

If you have any questions, contact the bookstore at coursematerials@hope.edu. 

Campus publications

In addition to textbooks, many professors now use campus publications to provide materials and information to their students. Three types of campus publications are supported by the bookstore to meet varying academic needs:

Departmental Publication

A departmental publication is generated by the department — for example, a workbook created by a professor, or the Health Dynamics text authored collectively by kinesiology faculty. Departmental publications have no material that needs copyright permission filed and the production is overseen and paid for by the department.

Coursepacks

If the material you wish to use includes a substantial amount of copyrighted material such as book selections, website material, journal essays or articles, then you need to create a coursepack. The bookstore offers the service of filing for permission and also handles most of the production details.

Coupons

Coupons are the most flexible option we offer. Faculty use coupons, bought by the students at the same time as their textbooks, to cover lab fees, supplies to be handed out in class, audio-visual resource costs and copying costs for incidental handouts.

Desk copies

We do not factor desk copies into our textbook orders. If you need a desk copy, please order it directly from the publisher. If you anticipate needing to borrow any titles from the bookstore before your copies arrive, please indicate that information on your textbook adoptions form.

Student textbook Reorders

The bookstore does not automatically re-order textbooks that we run out of at the beginning of the semester. We purchase only what the actual enrollment numbers predict each class will need. If the enrollment of a particular course fluctuates during the drop/add period and some of your students find that required titles are sold out at the bookstore, please encourage them to contact us so we can place a rush order for the books they need.