Textbook Service

• WNYRIC staff work with vendors to purchase brand new books or refurbished used books at greatly-reduced prices. RIC staff handles all district vendor complaints and pays the publishers for all textbook purchases. Books are drop-shipped to the receiving schools.
• The process for private/charter schools:Private/charter schools will create and submit student residency listings in their online database.
• Public schools (Home schools) will receive emails when student names are submitted for residency verification.Home schools will access the Textbook system, compare students submitted against their census report and either approve residency or reject names.
• Per student textbook loan amount is allocated to the private/ charter school for purchases as students are individually approved.
• Both private/charter and home districts have access to a customized budget matrix, which shows real-time appropriations, expenditures and balances.
• Private/charter schools create and submit online requisitions for textbooks.
• The system tracks monies allocated and will not allow requisitons to be saved if there is insufficient balances available.
• WNYRIC monitors all purchases for compliance with the NYS Textbook Loan Law.
• WNYRIC creates Purchase Orders, tracks shipping to receiving schools.
• Private/charter schools verify receipt of books online which triggers the approval to pay vendor invoices.
• WNYRIC acts as liaison to these publishers and handles all disputes.
• Home districts can view expenditure totals online for accurate filing of state reports.
• WNYRIC refunds unspent book and shipping monies to the district at the end of the fiscal year.

Hardware: none

Software: Internet access software and Internet Service Provider

Districts should preload monies into participation for book purchases, shipping and WNYRIC coordination fee. Amounts are per student.

The 2023-24 per student allocation for State Aid reimbursement is $58.25 per student, but home districts may choose to spend more.

Shipping should be approximately 6% of that total amount.

See Textbook Service subservices for more specifics.

DISTRICT RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Establish per-student textbook amount and communicate with the private/ charter schoolsProvide the names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of two (2) district contacts to the WNYRIC and notify the WNYRIC if these service contacts have changed.
• Send contact people to training at the WNYRIC.
• Training will be held at no charge to the district or the private/charter schools.
• Verify student residency in the Textbook application and complete the approval process in a timely manner.
• Attend annual user meetings offered by the WNYRIC.

PRIVATE/CHARTER SCHOOL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Assist WNYRIC with private/charter school profile information.
• Designate primary and supplemental textbook contacts, names, phone numbers and email addresses.
• Send both contacts to at least one training class at the WNYRIC.
• Submit an Excel or .txt file for a one-time creation of a pupil database within the Textbook system, including names, grade levels, anticipated district residency and Parent/Guardian information.
• Add new students to this database or make changes to the existing information manually after this initial load has been completed.
• Verify and submit students to the appropriate Home districts, using the Textbook application, for the residency approval process.
• Complete the textbook order process online, allocating book monies appropriately.
• Verify receipt of your textbooks within the textbook application to allow WNYRIC to pay vendor invoices.

WNYRIC RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Import existing student database information one time as a private/charter school joins the Textbook system.
• Data should include at least: names, addresses, parent/guardian data, district of residence.
• Request written quotations or bids for books (holding firm for a predetermined time frame) from vendors.
• Import publisher databases for textbooks that meet the NYS Textbook Loan Law guidelines.
• Imports must include current quoted prices.
• Provide private/charter school and participating public school training in the web application.
• Provide annual user meetings/documentation for updates on purchasing textbooks.
• Provide unlimited phone support to participating districts/schools.
• Troubleshoot problems with publishers on delayed or unfilled orders, or on billing discrepancies.
• Provide new features/reports in the service as regulations change or enhancements are made.
• The staff at the RIC maintain strict confidentiality while performing their duties for this and all services.
• Provide Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity for this dataProvide one day of district wide training in the first year as part of the support fee.
• Provide three hours of district wide online training during each subsequent year.
• Provide district wide training at a per diem rate.
• Data Backup: Textbook data is backed up twice each night using Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM). TSM backup data for this node is retained for at least 21 days. The WNYRIC tests restores once per year. Media condition is monitored regularly and media is replaced as needed. Any data that is backed up by the WNYRIC TSM service is backed up to disk (IBM DS storage in server room) using IBM TSM software and then an onsite and offsite tape copy are created. The offsite copy is taken to the WNYRIC storage site at a secure location in Western New York and the onsite is kept in the WNYRIC automated tape library at the service center. The WNYRIC utilizes cost effective best practices determined by research that allows our experienced and trained technical staff to perform robust testing and support of the WNYRIC network in the areas of security, infrastructure, energy management, virtualization strategies, disaster recovery and business continuity. Therefore, we are able to be a district advocate for vendor contract issues and aggressively negotiate contract pricing and performance terms.
• Service Desk can be reached Monday –Friday from 7:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. by calling (716) 821-7171, 1-800-872-0780 or by e-mail at servicedesk@e1b.org. A representative will be available from 4:30 p.m. through 11:00 p.m to assist you with calls regarding emergency situations. During all other hours and holidays, a caller will receive important information regarding coverage.
• "Staff follow best practices in order to provide necessary security as it relates to the most recent student data security and privacy regulations".