Higher education has evolved more and more into a customer-driven model of consumerism. This has led to a wide variety of classes and courses of study to meet the needs of the diverse student population. One consequence of this change is the ability for students to choose the courses they register for. Of course, institutions usually offer academic advising to guide the student in the wise selection of courses so as to minimize the time it will take them to complete their course of study and earn a degree. But we often take it for granted that students can register for any course they wish to, as long as they have the prerequisites to do so.
This leads to the second major problem in textbook accessibility:
Problem #2: Students can register for any course they are qualified to take at virtually any time.
Since very few textbooks are available in an accessible format, accessible formats must be created ad hoc by the institution. This problem gives those who produce accessible formats (namely the DSS office) little or no time to work.
