Textbook information is available on your course syllabus or through the bookstore. Some textbooks may be listed in the library's course reserve list. 

Students who are unable to find textbook information for their classes on the AU Campus Store site should contact their professors.

American University Campus Store

• Students can search for their course materials on the "Get Your Textbooks" page of the American University Campus Store website. Search by Term, Course Code, and Section.
• American University Washington College of Law's official bookstore is located in the AU Campus Store at 4400 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20016.
• *Orders are picked up at the American University Campus Store, not at Pence Law Library.
• Students who need to check the status of an order or encounter issues with an order should contact the AU Campus Store at 202/885-6301 or american@bkstr.com.

Alternative Options 

• Amazon.com
• Barnes & Noble
• eBay: check eBay if you are looking for an older edition of a casebook or a non-legal text.
• Google search the ISBN of the book to browse 3rd-party retailers selling the edition you need. You may get results from Amazon, AbeBooks, TextbookRush, Biblio, etc. Compare prices!

Purchase from the Publisher

• West Academic
• Aspen Publishing
• Carolina Academic Press
• LexisNexus

Publishers may offer discounts or limited-time special deals. Check the publisher website!

Aspen Access Program

• With Aspen Access, students have the ability to quickly retrieve all course materials from one convenient location while enjoying a 15% discount on all Aspen purchases.

West Academic

• Students can save 15% on both print books and eBooks by using the school discount code WAAMERICANU at checkout on westacademic.com. 

Search the Library Catalog 

Before you purchase a text, search the Leagle Catalog to check if your materials are available in print or online through the Library. 

*Students have an obligation to purchase required class texts; casebooks on reserve are not intended and should not be used as a substitute for the purchase of casebooks. 

• Reserve copies of all 1L casebooks are available for the convenience of students on a first come, first serve basis. Course reserves can be checked out at the Circulation Desk for a non-renewable period of 3 hours. 
• Students may search for course reserves in Leagle, the library's online catalog.  You may search by professor name, course name, or course number. 
• The Library may have the eBook version of your course's textbook, which can also be found through the Leagle catalog. Library eBooks are available immediately on the first day of class, and many are available for permanent download.
• Current WCL students, faculty, and staff can access e-resources on campus and off via OpenAthens by logging in with AU credentials. 

Searching for Course Reserves

Using the Advanced Search option, you can filter your search to only include results for books that have been placed on reserve for a particular course. 

• You may search by professor name, course name, or course number. 
• These items are available either in the reserve section or at the circulation desk in closed reserves. 

Open Education Resources

• The Open Textbook Library contains hundreds of free, openly accessible educational materials including law related titles, subjects, and open access statutory supplements. 
• Open textbooks are licensed by authors and publishers to be freely used and adapted. They can be immediately downloaded and edited at no cost. 

What is an ISBN?

• An ISBN is an International Standard Book Number. An ISBN is essentially a product identifier used by publishers, booksellers, libraries, internet retailers and other supply chain participants. ISBNs are a fingerprint for the specific title, edition, and format (physical book vs eBook). 

Search using the ISBN

• By searching for your course materials using the ISBN provided by the professor, or the ISBN associated with the specific edition and format of the text your course is using, you can make sure that you purchase the correct material for your course. 
• Conducting a Google search of the ISBN will pull up purchase options from a variety of retailers that sell that edition of the book. 

Where to locate the ISBN

• On the back cover of a physical book
• On the versa (copyright page) of a physical book
• Alongside other bibliographic information such as title, author, and publisher on a website. For example: