Academic Libraries and the Textbook Taboo: Time to Get Over It? | Information and digital literacy in education via the digital path | Scoop.it
Academic libraries have historically avoided collecting textbooks, for several reasons. Perhaps the most important are these:

Philosophical: Academic libraries tend to see themselves primarily as supporters of research, and classroom texts are not research materials.
Practical: Library collections (and collecting practices) have their origins in the print era, when housing and managing a comprehensive textbook collection would have been a daunting challenge, both fiscally and logistically.