[JimmyRuska]

Some school libraries don't even have the required course textbooks. A community college I went to did have 1 or 2 copies of required course text books, you just couldn't check them out of the library. 4 year university did not even have them, making sure you paid for a personal copy of your course books from the university book store. It seemed really strange a library wouldn't have the books students needed most.

[minikites]

Textbooks go out of date too quickly to meaningfully contribute to a collection. This is (of course) by the design of publishers to wring as much money out of students as possible.

[vkou]

Did some fundamental part of the Calculus I curriculum happen to change in the past 2 years? What about that course material makes it go 'Out of date too quickly', and requires a new edition?

The homework problems? Who the hell gives grades for homework problems? The only person you're cheating by copying the solution is yourself, because you aren't going to learn the material well enough to pass a test on it.

[meej]

Also, it would require faculty members to actually tell the library what textbooks they're using each term. One might be surprised at how rarely and inconsistently this happens.

[noodlesUK]

At our university, you are required to submit a reading list when the course is ratified, and each year after that. Students complaining that the library didn’t have the books would come back to bite you as the lecturer did not telling the library which books to have.

[downrightmike]

It has to be at the hand of the publisher, otherwise how would the info in the books be up to date enough to grant a degree on top off? The work you did a as a freshmen, would be useless by sophomore year and no one would ever graduate because their knowledge wouldn't be applicable.