The past ten years have seen an increase in the number of ways students can acquire textbooks. The traditional purchase of printed textbooks from the campus bookstore still exists, but now students can purchase e-books, buy online, or rent from either the campus bookstore or from an online provider. This research is an exploratory study of college student textbook acquisition. In this paper, we review the literature regarding the textbook acquisition process. We developed and administered a survey instrument to examine students' textbook acquisition patterns. We find that most students acquire their textbooks using more than one source. Eighty six percent of the students surveyed use more than one source for textbooks. Of those students who rely on only one source, half use the campus bookstore. A majority of students use both the campus bookstore and an online retailer. We also observe that the student's year in school is somehow related to their acquisition method.