St. Lawrence University is now automatically providing and charging students with online textbooks. Instead of searching high and low for the cheapest textbook options, students are now able to access textbooks online. However, not all students are happy about this new technology. The program, called Day One Digital, allows necessary textbooks for classes to be accessed digitally and automatically through Canvas.

The Brewer Bookstore teamed up with VitalSource, a company that provides digital learning resources, to start the program. The appeal, as written on the SLU Brewer Bookstore page, is that “Day One Digital converts physical course materials into accessible, interactive, and adaptive digital content while reducing the cost to students.” While most digital textbooks are significantly cheaper, the controversy is coming from the automatic opt-in that has been set up without refund. Noted on the Brewer Bookstore website on the Day One Digital page is a note that reads, “If you do not opt-out by the add/drop date, you will not get a refund. No exceptions!” So, students enrolled in classes that have textbooks accessed through VitalSource are automatically opted-in to pay the fee, which is then charged to the student account.

Before the beginning of the semester, students and faculty received emails from the SLU Brewer Bookstore providing information and instructions on Day One Digital. “I got a couple of messages from the bookstore about this,” said Valerie Lehr, professor and chair of the Gender and Sexuality Studies department. While she did receive information about the new programs, she understands that not everyone, including herself, is clear on how it works. “This is probably in part the fact that it’s over break and, you know, thinking about the first day of class and things like that,” said Lehr.

Emmons Whited ’27 recounted how he went to the bookstore to purchase his Intro to Public Health and FYS textbooks. He was not aware of the new system for online textbooks or that he was automatically opted-in until after he bought the books. After learning about the program, Whited decided to return the textbooks he could get online. “I think on one book alone, it saved me $30,” said Whited. However, he did have to purchase one of his textbooks physically because it was not accessible through Day One Digital. “It can be slightly confusing that not all books are included in the system,” he said.

While Whited was able to save a lot of money, some people have had trouble opting out of the program. Even though it seems to be a simple system of pressing the “Want to Opt Out?” button, some have error messages coming up. “Personally, I had no trouble with it because I did it last week, but it was very inconvenient for some people who added the class during the add/drop period,” said Jenne Heerkens ’27. Students in her Intro to Psychology class have had trouble opting out of the digital textbook. “It didn’t give them a lot of time to weigh what the best financial decision for them was,” she said.

The original opt-out date was Jan. 24, but it has since been changed to Jan. 29. Although no email was sent out about the change in opt-out dates, the VitalSource page shows the update.