TUTORIAL: share free digital textbooks

• locate the reading list.this should be available for all classes on the school website, but if not, investigate further & ask around if needed.
• get the ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers) for each title. some schools try to hide these from you to make you buy from their provider, but with research online or a trip to the bookstore, you can make sure you have the correct edition when you get it online. this is important because academic institutions are notorious for making changes between editions for the express purpose of rendering past editions obsolete.
• download the pdfs. library genesis has TONS of books, including textbooks. sci-hub helps un-paywall scientific research papers & other things. project gutenberg has a great selection of copyright-expired literature (you can convert the ebooks to pdfs here). use the ISBNs to download your textbooks & etc.!
• make a place to store the pdfs. there are many ways to do so, such as setting up a semi-anonymous google drive (i.e. one not under one's legal name, just in case), using a dummy dropbox account, & etc. if possible, create a folder with a clear label, & write a short note about the overpriced nature of the texts plus a list of all titles in the folder.
• distribute the knowledge.depending on your circumstances, you can link the folder to friends, forward it to the class e-mailing list, or even post about the folder on forums or sites related to the class. optional: tell people about library genesis & sci-hub, too, so they can do this themselves if they want. share as much as you safely can.