Purchasing textbooks is traditionally seen as a necessary college expense and can be a rite of passage for first-years taking their first courses. But students in this day and age have found other, sometimes illicit, approaches to obtaining textbooks. We do not condone the illegality of these methods, but we cannot deny their existence or their appeal to students.

Rather than spending money, students can receive textbooks from a friend, borrow them “long-term” from the library, download them from the Internet, purchase international editions of textbooks that are often cheaper or even choose not to buy them at all.

We do not specifically advocate any of these options, but they are certainly more sensible to the frugal college student. This begs the question: Should textbook companies adapt to remain relevant cornerstones of our educational experiences? Are they even capable of doing so?

We have nothing against textbooks in general. Many students find having a physical copy of the textbook to be much more conducive to studying, and for those students who are perfectly content with purchasing textbooks, feel free to stop reading at this point. But many students do look to economize, and it is common knowledge that other options exist, such as the ones outlined above.

After all, there are formal institutions that suggest knowledge is a public good that should be accessible to all who seek it. This is why websites such as Wikipedia have been so popular not just with students, but also with the general public.

In addition, the popularity of free courseware with several top institutions such as Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology attest to the belief that the more people gain knowledge, the better. We hope the textbook industry can recognize the trend toward the de-commodification of education and take appropriate and drastic measures to stay relevant in these rapidly changing times.

We understand buying textbooks is sometimes completely necessary. Many classes require course packets that can only be bought through the bookstore, and it can be difficult to obtain that specific gender studies or post-modernist Bengali poetry book from a friend or online.

But simultaneously, we want to challenge the notion that buying textbooks is the only option or even the best option. In accordance with the now-prevalent principles of open, accessible knowledge, institutions and the general public alike have already fundamentally uprooted the tenets of education. While textbooks cannot be handed out for free, it is time for the textbook industry to seriously evaluate and adapt to compete with the new, worthy competitors that have risen in its previously monopolized market in education.

While the SUPe Store may be the most convenient location for students, some argue it’s not the most affordable place to pay for books.

Sam Oliver, a U. Alabama sophomore, said she’s tried a range of different options for purchasing her books.

“My Fluid Mechanics book cost $230 at the SUPe Store, but only $80 on Amazon,” Oliver said. “I then found the same book for only $20 on ValoreBooks.com.”

Oliver agrees it’s usually cheaper to buy books online, and even with additional shipping costs on top of the product price, Oliver said the prices still end up being cheaper rather than buying it from local college bookstores.

Maggie Abernathy, a UA senior, said the solution the nursing majors have is borrowing books from one another since the classes are consistent.

“This way I am paying my nursing friends a smaller amount by just renting the textbook from one another,” Abernathy said.

Phillip Kravtsov, a college student from New York City and founder of PostYourBook.com, said he was discouraged by the amount of money he had to spend on books and the amount he received back at the end of his semester.

“My freshman year of college I spent $1,100 on textbooks in the beginning of the semester for my classes,” Kravtsov said. “At the end of the semester, I returned to my local bookstore and was offered $280 for the same books.”

Kravtsov said he tried Amazon and Chegg’s buyback program thinking he would get a better deal, and was offered roughly $350.

In an effort to save his money, Kravtsov began to sell his textbooks for a little bit less than the full price and ended up selling all of his books for $930.

The idea clicked for Kravtsov to start a social networking website where college students can buy and sell textbooks to each other to avoid the overpricing of university bookstores, buyback programs and third party retailers. Kravtsov later formed a partnership with Josh Hiekali, a college student from Los Angeles, Calif., who had created a simplified exchanging type website that he had opened to three or four U. California schools.

“PostYourBook.com lets students post the textbooks they have from previous classes and allows other students to contact them to buy their books from them,” Kravtsov said.

One year later, PostYourBook.com has now become a popular online sharing textbook site among several universities including The University of Alabama.

“The University of Alabama got 205 book posts in three days with one email marketing blast,” Kravtsov said. “What started out in a few schools now turned into 155 universities with 155,000 users.”

Kravtsov said unlike other book websites, PostYourBook.com is not a buyback program.

“The bookstores, Amazon, Chegg and all those other website own warehouses purchase textbooks at very low prices from students who are finished with their classes then resell them at double the amount they purchased them for and make a profit,” Kravtsov said.

Kravtsov said all PostYourBook.com does is connect Person A (who just finished the semester and wants to make more money than a buyback program) with Person B (who doesn’t want to buy a textbook at full price).

“Our website saves students money as long as they price their book accordingly,” Kravtsov said. “We aren’t some big corporation trying to rip people off.”

Another company, TextbookPartners.com, offers students a chance to earn money for their organization, such as a sorority, when ordering textbooks through its website.

Sarah Altschuler, a freshman majoring in education, said she used TextbookPartners.com last semester and plans on using the website again for the future.

“I saved 85 percent on my textbook costs,” Altschuler said. “It was rewarding knowing the sales benefited my sorority while saving money.”

The study, done by BigWords.com, a price comparison site for textbooks, suggests that buying used textbooks instead of renting them can potentially save the average student $1,000 a year.

Jeff Sherwood, the website’s founder and CEO, said his research indicated the average student spends approximately $1,137 on textbooks per year. 

The study, based on the website’s ability to compare textbook buying and selling prices, gathered data from students who used their “consider buyback value” feature.

“Students who used our recommendations wound up saving $1,000 a year,” Sherwood said. “They turned the third highest cost of college into something that can become groceries.”

Tia Salajan, a U. South Florida senior majoring in film studies, said she usually spends about $500 per semester on textbooks. Before she changed her major to film studies, Salajan said she used to spend $200 per science textbook when she was majoring in biology.

“(Textbooks) cost so much, and classes don’t even use them as much as I think they should, for what I pay for,” she said. 

The study was conducte by comparing prices of the 1,000 most popular textbook titles. The prices of the cheapest available option for each textbook at the start of the fall semester were subtracted from the highest offer price found for those books at the end of the semester.

“We record all of the prices we gather, and with a million users per semester, it’s a tremendous amount of data…” Sherwood said. “We found that students who bought the recommended used books and then sold it for the highest offer price did better than those who rented them.”

Kimberly McDaniel, a USF sophomore majoring in biomedical sciences, said she spends an average of $500 to $600 per semester for her textbooks. This semester alone, she said she spent about $700 for her textbooks.

“It’s ridiculous,” she said. “I paid $117 for an access code, and $120 for a textbook for pre-calculus.”

Also included in the study was the option of purchasing e-books. 

Sherwood said e-books are becoming more popular among college students, but that they are still nowhere near as popular as used textbooks.

“In general, an e-book is discounted 10 to 15 percent off the price of the new textbook, when you can buy a used book for
50 to 75 percent less than the cost of a new book,” he said. “It’s just dramatically better value.”

At the USF Bookstore, rented textbooks can be purchased for up to 50 percent lower than new textbooks, and e-books can be purchased for up to 60 percent less, according to the website.

Sherwood said used books are often better in value than e-books, because buying a used textbook can be permanent, whereas some e-book purchases will only stay downloaded for several months or a year. 

He said, however, though the price is not as cost-effective, students usually find e-books to be more convenient to use. 

A trend Sherwood noted of the study was the varying textbooks costs for different subjects. 

“Science books, engineering, medical, law, these books are generally more expensive than literature, journalism or other liberal arts disciplines,” he said.

McDaniel said she usually shops at the university bookstore because of convenience and the Bookstore Advanced Purchase Program, which allows students to purchase their books and supplies before their financial aid refund is sent to them. However, she said she plans on changing how she buys her textbooks next semester.

“Now I will shop for textbooks online,” McDaniel said. “I plan on looking around online before going to any bookstore in person. I want to make sure I compare prices and get the best one.”

Sherwood said his website searches the inventories of more than 50 different online retailers, renters and book buyers to compare prices and markets for students.

“At the end of the day, what we are trying to do is show students the best way to buy, download or rent their textbooks,” he said.

In 1997, Supap Kirtsaeng came to the United States from Thailand to study mathematics. In order to pay for his tuition, he sold textbooks, some of which were published by Wiley, on eBay. Kirtsaeng had obtained the textbooks from Thailand, where his family had bought them and shipped them to the United States. Kirtsaeng collected between $900,000 and $1.2 million in revenue, according to court documents.

Wiley sued Kirtsaeng in 2008 and won the copyright infringement lawsuit. After Kirtsaeng’s appeal to the Second Circuit, the case landed in front of the Supreme Court.

Under the first sale doctrine, individuals can sell copyrighted works “lawfully made under” U.S. copyright law without the copyright owner’s permission. But a separate provision prohibits copyrighted works from being imported into the United States “without the authority of the owner of copyright.”

Justices in a similar case in 2010, Costco Wholesale Corp. v. Omega S.A., could not answer the question of whether copyright laws in the United States applied to items manufactured overseas after the vote was split 4-4.

International editions of textbooks are often cheaper than American editions due to differences in the countries’ economies.

“I sometimes get international versions (of textbooks) because they’re cheaper,” wrote Nihaal Mehta ’14 in an email to The Herald. Most of Mehta’s international purchases were for introductory courses, such as CHEM 0330: “Equilibrium, Rate and Structure” and ECON 0110: “Principles of Economics.”

International editions often have the same material as American editions but differently numbered problems.

“I think the questions in the back of the chapters might have been different, so some students might have done the wrong homework a few times,” wrote Rachel Friedberg, senior lecturer in the economics department, in an email to The Herald. Friedberg said some of her students have purchased international textbooks in the past.

Alex Swanson ’16 saved about $150 buying an international textbook for chemistry, but she did not realize that the problem numbers would be different. “I think I’ll try to sell it to my friend, but probably not for profit since the question numbers aren’t even right,” she said.

Online businesses such as eBay or Amazon often obtain products manufactured outside of the United States and sell them for a lower price, and the Supreme Court’s decision may threaten their sales.

The Brown Bookstore is not allowed to buy international editions of textbooks through its buyback program. “We do see a few international editions come through, but we’re not allowed, by law, to buy them back. I don’t offer any price,” said Mike McDade, the bookstore’s textbook department manager.

Steven Souza, director of the Brown Bookstore, said the Supreme Court’s decision will not affect the business. The number of students who buy international editions and also frequent the bookstore “is very limited,” he said.

The case could also affect the sale of foreign movies, books and music. The Supreme Court will make its final decision by June.

The National Association of College Stores’ Student Watch 2012 found that students’ estimated spending was approximately $655 on required course materials in 2011, down $12 since 2010.

Much of the cost stems from physical textbooks, which are still the preferred option for many students despite the often hefty costs and difficulty reselling them that are not as common as their e-book alternatives.

“I prefer traditional textbooks because of the availability — you can carry it around with you,” U. Houston sophomore Jonathan Chang said.

“Compared to e-books, you don’t need to turn it on; you can just open it. If you’re stuck on a certain area or want to get back to the area you were in, just (use) a bookmark,” Chang said.

However, the price and hassle often associated with traditional textbooks has convinced some students to opt for e-books instead.

“They’re cheaper, and sometimes you can download them for free legally,” UH senior Chandler Collins said.

“There’s nothing physical to turn, no pages, so sometimes it doesn’t feel like you’re making as much progress. But, having said that, you get the search function so that’s better than (physical) textbooks.”

Despite what may seem like the growing popularity of e-books, digital textbooks still only account for a small percentage of the textbook market. Less than 8 percent of respondents to an eCampus.com survey preferred e-books.

“We also have news for anyone thinking that print books are heading the way of the dinosaur,” eCampus.com CEO Matt Montgomery said in a press release.

“College students flat-out prefer old school, hardcover textbooks to e-textbooks.”

Aside from decisions about the format, students also must decide between online retailers, discount stores and the on-campus bookstore. They may have to do research to learn where they really save the most money or which store is most reliable.

“The University of Houston Bookstore is a full-service operation, and its mission is to ensure that the right book for the right course is on the shelf at the right time,” said Felix Robinson, manager of the UH Bookstore. ”Online retailers can’t guarantee that or accept financial aid or provide revenue, services or benefits to the students or school.”

Buying is not the only way to acquire traditional textbooks — renting textbooks allows students to save a significant amount of money.

“Students really do save a lot from renting. Rental prices can be anywhere from 55 to 60 percent off the list price,” said Sean Johnson, online marketing manager for eCampus.com.

Aside from the lower prices, other motivations to rent textbooks are free shipping and return postage and large inventories that ensure students can have their books by the first day of class. In a recent survey conducted by eCampus.com, 79 percent of customers rented their textbooks and preferred it to buying used copies or e-books.

“I would say the only possible drawback would be that you might get a book in bad condition,” UH sophomore Hosanna Escalante said.

“But (renting websites) usually say what condition the book is in. I’ve never gotten a book in bad condition.”

While textbook renting does have some restrictions — like not being able to highlight or write in the book — it allows students to return books they do not wish to keep once they have completed a course.

“There are no worries about selling them back and getting much less than what you paid,” Escalante said.

“Plus, if you decide you might need to keep the book, there’s always an option to do that and you only have to pay a little extra.”

Students are also advised to use peers and classmates as a resource.

“Being involved in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, books generally don’t change too much,” Escalante said.

“So I find other people who’ve used the same books before.”

Students have many of options to choose from when purchasing textbooks. If price is a factor, then renting textbooks may be the best option — it saved students 60 to 70 percent according to a press release by eCampus.com — followed by used books, which can save students 35 percent, and then e-books, which save students only about 15 percent, according to USA Today.

Price aside, students should experiment and shop around.

“Look at all the choices (freshmen) have, whether they want to go buy the traditional hardback textbook or if they want to go with e-books,” Chang said.

“First-year (students) just try to experiment with what they’re good with and if they can focus well; what helps them focus; what helps them be successful.”

Students can now add Amazon.com to the list of websites to scour when comparing prices for textbook rentals.

Amazon, which already sells and buys textbooks, launched a textbook rental program Wednesday, according to a press release.

Students can now rent textbooks and have them shipped to their doors or opt for a Kindle eTextbook rental.

All rentals are eligible for free standard shipping on orders of $25 or more as well as free two-day shipping with Amazon Prime.

College students can also sign up for Amazon Student, a free membership program with benefits such as six months of free two-day shipping and email alerts with discounts.

The membership covers two-day shipping on products including video games, CDs, phones and Kindles, the company said in the release.

“College is expensive, and students are always looking for ways to save money on textbooks, which is why we’ve long offered great prices on both new and used textbooks,” Ripley MacDonald, director of textbooks at Amazon.com Inc., said in a statement.

Amazon’s pre-existing textbook trade-in program allows users to sell books or trade them in for Amazon.com credit.

Heather Halak, an 18-year-old U. Florida sophomore, has bought textbooks from Amazon before. She said the assurance Amazon Student provides with free two-day shipping on most orders is helpful.

“I know that in three days, a package will be at my door,” she said.

But Halak said she wouldn’t rent from the online retailer.

“When the class is over, you can just sell your textbooks back, whereas if you rent textbooks, you don’t get any of that money back,” she said.

The online retail company will start collecting sales tax in California beginning on Sept. 15, said Scott Stanzel, an Amazon spokesman. The change is more than a year in the making.

California currently has one of the nation’s highest state sales tax rates at 7.25 percent. Taking district and local tax rates into account, students could face up to as much as a 9.75 percent additional tax when purchasing products through Amazon, starting in September.

The tax on Amazon purchases was originally scheduled to begin in 2011. But last year, Amazon and California state leaders, including Gov. Jerry Brown, negotiated a bill to postpone Amazon’s collection of sales tax from Californian customers until this September, given that the company agreed to create at least 10,000 new full-time jobs for the state by the end of 2015.

Despite the upcoming price increases, Kyle Mark, a fourth-year UCLA student, said he would continue to shop on Amazon as opposed to other retail stores like the UCLA Store because of the better flexibility offered through their guaranteed buyback.

“I’m already invested with them (Amazon). I use the credit they give me when I sell back my textbooks to buy other items,” Mark said.

Vincent Truong, a fourth-year UCLA student, cited the cheaper prices as a reason to continue shopping on Amazon.

“Even with the sales tax, Amazon will still be generally cheaper than the UCLA bookstore,” he said.

Amazon already charges sales tax in six other states. The company could previously bypass the sales tax requirement in California.

But within the past year state lawmakers supported legislation that would require online retailers with a presence in California to collect sales tax from customers within the state in order to create equality with brick-and-mortar businesses.

In the meantime, Amazon has been advocating for a national solution that would address the question of online sales tax and create an “equitable framework” for all online companies in the country, Stanzel said.

The Marketplace Fairness Act, which is currently up for debate in Congress, would mirror California’s legislation by granting states the authority to require sales tax collection on online purchases made by consumers within their state.

Stanzel said Amazon supports the Marketplace Fairness Act because the company believes the appropriate place to settle the sales tax issue is in Congress.

Current policy, which is based on a 1992 Supreme Court decision, exempts many online retailers from collecting sales tax.

Senators who support the Marketplace Fairness Act have argued that the policy creates a disadvantage for brick-and-mortar retail stores.

Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, who is co-sponsoring the bill, said he found it unfair that traditional shops essentially end up being display cases for products that consumers will proceed to purchase online to avoid paying sales tax, according to a statement released on Wednesday.

Yet while legislators debate the fairness of the bill, students continue to prefer the online method of shopping for textbooks over traditional bookstores.

Even given the price increase, online shopping will still provide benefits that retail stores lack, said Anum Khan, a fourth-year UCLA student.

“The UCLA Store doesn’t always have used options. I still like online shopping because you can compare prices and I like the fact that it gets mailed to you,” she said.

Regardless of whether the Marketplace Fairness Act does not pass, California will proceed to require online retailers to charge sales tax.

Shortly after receiving his book in the mail, the second-year civil engineering student realized the international version of the book was different than its American counterpart.

“The American version has tables and graphs at the end of the book that you need for class, which is probably the most important part of the textbook,” he said. The international version does not have that feature.

The nation’s highest court is now evaluating whether textbooks produced abroad, like the one Panopio received, can be sold in the United States at lower prices.

Last month, the Supreme Court announced it will rule on a case debating the issue. The case, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. v. Supap Kirtsaeng, dates back to 2008, when publishing company Wiley & Sons sued Kirtsaeng for selling textbooks bought from abroad within the United States through a markup company. Kirtsaeng was a graduate student at the University of Southern California at the time.

The suit brings into question the Copyright Act of 1976, which outlines rules for copyrighted materials, including textbooks. One of the sections of the act states that the owner of a copyright, Wiley in this case, has the exclusive right to distribute copyrighted works to the public.

But another section within the act, known as the first sale law, allows purchasers who have lawfully acquired the work to dispose of it as they wish, said Peter S. Menell, a professor of law at UC Berkeley.

The main question of this new case is whether a lawful purchase abroad comes with the same right to resell, he said.

Kirtsaeng contends that he was justified in reselling the materials under the first sale law, while the publisher makes the argument that it only has the authority to distribute copyrighted materials, according to court documents.

A district court sided with the publisher in 2009, ordering Kirtsaeng to pay the publisher $600,000 for violating the company’s copyrights.

Kirtsaeng’s attorney, Sam P. Israel, said they are now looking for the Supreme Court to reverse the lower court’s decision, citing the first sale law.

Before the court rules on the case, students should be cautious about reselling imported books, Menell said.

Used books sold on sites like Amazon or ebay might or might not be are most legitimate copies. If the copy being sold is imported without authorization of the publisher, the seller runs afoul of copyright law, he said.

Apple, however, is fighting the charges, saying, “The Department of Justice’s accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true. The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon’s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry.”

Before Apple, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan and Penguin Group fixed e-book prices, Amazon controlled 90 percent of the e-book market. Now, it holds 60 percent, Barnes & Noble holds 30 percent and Apple holds nearly 10 percent of the market.

To successfully charge Apple Inc. with collusion, the Justice Department will have to prove Apple worked with the other publishers together, as opposed to individually, to raise prices.

The Justice Department accused Apple and the others of raising the prices of e-books anywhere from $3 to $5, costing consumers tens of millions of dollars.

Currently, Amazon does not allow publishers to set the prices of their e-books.

Described as “ruinous competition,” publishers and other distributors are forced to sell their books at the same low prices, even if they lose money.

In the current model, only consumers and Amazon benefit from e-book pricing, but for how long will consumers profit if authors stop writing?

The share Amazon takes from selling the e-book, in addition to its price cuts, creates such a deficit to publishers that authors are hurt in the process.

The cost of a book is not decided on a whim. Production costs – including payment to the author, editors, designers, printers and e-book developers – as well as enough money to give the publisher a profit, are included in the price of books and e-books.

If publishers are taking a hit so great that they can’t cover those costs – let alone make a profit – eventually they will stop printing, and that will hurt the consumers more than anything.

This is not a defense of collusion. If Apple did in fact collude with the other publishers to raise prices, it should be punished.

Precedent says ruinous competition, like what Amazon is doing, is not an excuse for collusion, but something needs to be done about the near monopoly Amazon has on the market.

Since the lawsuit, Amazon’s shares have risen again, while the rest have lowered.

A company owning nearly 90 percent of the market is not healthy in any industry. Yes, consumers save money, but what amount of savings is worth risking the integrity of an entire industry?

Book publishers should not expect to make the same amount of money off hard copy or e-books as they previously made, but they should not be driven to take a loss either.

While we may tempted to go to bookstores and use the scanners on our smartphones to look for lower prices on Amazon, we need to ask ourselves who Amazon is sacrificing to create these low prices.

Low prices are great, but sometimes the savings is not worth it. Look at who you’re supporting when you make a purchase.

Sometimes it’s worth it to pay the higher price.

Students may feel a lighter load, however, with the recent addition of digital textbooks to iPads, laptops and cellphones.

Technology companies have discussed digitalizing books for years, but the conversation has picked up rapidly in the past few months after Apple and other companies announced that they are ready to try it out, said Christine Borgman, a professor of information studies at UCLA.

This week, the California textbook company Chegg announced it would begin offering textbooks that can be rented or bought to be viewed online. A day after Chegg’s announcement, Apple announced it too would be offering virtual textbooks through a downloadable application.

The most attractive part of digital books is the potential to cut the high prices that students have had to pay, Borgman said.

“The prices of textbooks has gotten extreme,” she said. “How many students can afford to pay $200 for books per course, per quarter?”

One result of the high prices is that students may just not purchase books, and their grades can suffer because of it, Borgman said.

Textbooks that students can access online or on their mobile devices eliminate the cost of printing or distributing – some of the largest costs for publishers, she said.

Chegg has converted more than 40,000 textbooks to online content, which includes the ability to take notes, online chat and highlight passages, said Brent Tworetzky, product leader of Chegg. Chegg, which previously specialized in renting physical books to students, is one of the first companies to explore the use of existing technology for textbooks.

The two primary reasons companies such as Chegg think the future of textbooks is in digital form is price and convenience, Tworetzky said.

Traditional textbooks have not yet lost appeal for some students. Robert Cacdac, a third-year political science student, said he prefers real books.

“I don’t like staring at a screen all day,” he said. “A book separates you from Facebook and email and other distractions.”

Cacdac said all the online options he has seen for his courses have been more expensive than renting books at the UCLA Textbook Store.

“It’s nice to be able to look at your bookshelf and see what you’ve read,” he said. “It’s like your own library.”

But the pain of carrying around books is why Jeni Hernandez, a fourth-year math student, said she has bought books online previously.

“I’m just carrying around my iPad instead of a bunch of heavy math books,” she said. “Plus, you don’t have to worry about what to throw into your bag in the morning.”

Tworetzky said the new technology reduces the chance of accidentally leaving homework at home.

“Traditional textbooks are heavy, they’re a pain to lug around, and it’s easy to forget them at home,” he said.

“How often have you left your cellphone or laptop at home? With this kind of technology, you’re never far from your books.”

When the semester began, she realized textbooks were going to cost more than she expected — nearly $700 for the semester.

With no money to spare, she turned to a solution that is becoming more popular with students: textbook piracy.

“I have paid literally thousands of dollars to [textbook distributors],” Boll said. “I can’t afford to line their pockets this semester, and I don’t think they should really blame me.”

In the past, file-sharing websites have been used to distribute movies, music, and videogames.

But a new trend, thanks in part to the popularity of e-book readers like the iPad and Kindle, is sharing textbooks.

There are many websites where students can search for the textbooks they need, download them for free in mere minutes, then read them on their computers or e-book reader.

“Even if I did have the money, I would probably still pirate,” CSULB student Mark Slauson said. “I used to have to carry around piles of books, now I use the iPad I carry anyway.”

A variety of sources produce the digital copies of textbooks on piracy websites.

Some of them are the official digital versions of textbooks that have had their digital rights management hacked out, allowing unlimited copies.

Others are provided by a relatively small but dedicated group of students who use portable scanners hidden in their backpacks to scan entire library copies of books in less than an hour.

Another source of digital copies are students who agree to swap and scan textbooks.

However, major textbook publishers like Pearson, McGraw-Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt have been fighting back this threat with legal force.

A recent court ruling against the popular file-sharing site RapidShare resulted in the site being liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for every textbook that remained on their site, and publishers have even gone as far as threatening students with legal action if they would not pay a settlement.

Textbook piracy is not just supported by students, though. Some professors have encouraged students to bypass the cost of textbooks.

“I do not go so far as to provide them with copies, but at the start of every semester, I make it very clear to my students that there are free copies of their $200 textbook on the internet,” said a CSULB professor, who asked to stay anonymous.

“This particular textbook has seen price increases year after year with no improvements in content. I was a student once, and of all the people to profiteer off, they are the hardest to justify, ethically speaking,” the professor continued.

In 2008, the Association of American Publishers sued Georgia State U., claiming they had “systematically enabled professors to provide students with digital copies of copyrighted course reading materials without the publisher’s permission.”

If professors at CSULB were to reveal their position on textbook piracy publicly without the plausible deniability they have in the classroom, CSULB could face similar consequences.

“We did a rebuild from the ground up,” said Elio DiStaola, director of public and campus relations for Follett Higher Education Group.

DiStaola said Follett realized more can be done to serve students better.

The new features include the ability to move seamlessly between devices, unique social note-sharing, better study tools, online and offline access and the amount of titles available.

He said that his favorite feature is the snap summary, which takes all the highlights and notes that a person has in the digital textbook and by clicking one button forms an outline and a study guide, he said.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has been offering digital textbooks for the several years, said Derek Schuckman, store director of the University Bookstore.

He said students can save 40 to 60 percent with CafeScribe digital textbooks, and renting textbooks through Follett’s Rent-A-Text program can save students 50 percent or more off the cost of new books. Schuckman said used books can save students approximately 25 percent off the original cost.

“We believe in giving students many options so they can choose what’s best for them to be successful in the classroom,” he said.

In an informal poll, 14 percent of students preferred digital textbooks, while the remaining 86 percent favored traditional textbooks.

Narges Attaie, a senior journalism major, said she prefers the use of traditional textbooks instead of digital.

“If I’m paying for something, I want the real material in my hands,” she said. Attaie was also concerned with the battery life of reading devices.

Alyc Beasley, a freshman anthropology major, chose traditional textbooks for a few different reasons.

“It’s easier for me to actually do reading assignments if I have a tangible object in my hands,” she said. “It feels more natural for me.”

Beasley said reading a computer screen makes her eyes tired and said her head starts to hurt 10 times faster than when reading a book with a cover and pages.

The small percentage that favored digital instead of traditional had a similar reasoning.

Adrienne Elmquist, a sophomore nutrition and health sciences major, said she favors digital because it is more convenient and saves money. She also likes that her backpack weighs less.

“The one downfall is that I don’t get the feeling of flipping the pages,” she said.

Anne Johnson, a freshman international studies major, said she sees a benefit from CafeScribe and the features it offers. Having the ability to highlight the digital textbook is useful, she said.

Schuckman said he understands that students are not going to be ready for change right away.

“Some students may not be comfortable with digital texts yet and we understand that, which is why we offer the ‘Try Now, Buy Later’ program,” Schuckman said. The program offers a free three-day trial for most of the CafeScribe titles. Students will get the opportunity to test the functions and features CafeScribe books have to offer. After three days, if students choose to not purchase the books, access is revoked, he said.

“We want to become a collection of choices for the students,” DiStaola said.

As students head back to lecture halls across the nation this fall, many will spend hundreds of dollars purchasing textbooks. The U. Wisconsin Office of Student Financial Aid website estimates that undergraduate students will spend $1,140 on books for the 2011-2012 academic year, a figure which continues to draw scrutiny to the business model of the bookstore.

But even as prices continue to rise in each successive academic year, students and educators are beginning to embrace new electronic forms of text and other emerging media, which are often available for around half the price of a traditional textbook.

Prices Have ‘Almost Always’ Gone Up

Although most of the feedback students provide local textbook retailers may take the form of groans at the checkout, Steve Scheibel, manager of the textbook department at University Book Store, said prices are largely determined by the publisher and chosen by instructors who are aware of the price of the required materials.

Scheibel, who has worked in the textbook business for decades, credited steadily increasing book prices as a result of inflationary and other market pressures rather than the margins charged by the individual booksellers.

“The prices of textbooks has almost always gone up,” he said. “As long as I’ve been in the business, students have complained about the price of textbooks. It’s the first thing you have to buy that you don’t want to.”

While consumers running on a student’s budget and increasing faculty awareness of the issue have increased the demand for three-hole punch “loose leaf” editions, which retail for around two-thirds the price of a traditional book, Scheibel said students still seem to prefer the physical textbooks.

He said there remains no widely available electronic version of textbooks that are the “be all, end all” to make bookstores obsolete.

A War Against Used Books

For students hunting storefronts downtown for their required titles, Underground Textbook Exchange has carved out a different kind of niche — it will beat any local competitors’ price.

Curtis Macek, manager of the State Street location, said a business model focused on cheap textbooks instead of gimmicks and a link to a Nebraska used book wholesaler gives the business an edge when it comes to buy back prices and stock.

He said while it is no secret that the online market, particularly sellers such as Amazon.com, have captured a sector of the market originally secured by storefront window bookstores, publishers are waging a war on the reselling of used books.

“Publishers are kind of at odds with the used textbook industry,” Macek said. “They want to sell a new copy every year.”

Macek added a tough economy has led to the erosion of brand loyalty with individual bookstores, instead encouraging a fight to undercut other retailers.

He said this market conflict has lead to the rise of new editions available every year, the inclusion of CD-ROMs with textbooks and online codes to access homework and other material.

Some of the largest course sections for University of Wisconsin freshmen, Chemistry 103 and Zoology 151, also require editions custom made for the university — which Macek said makes students hesitant to purchase these “disposable” and nearly identical texts.

A National Spotlight and Legislation

A July 2005 report from the non-partisan federal Government Accounting Office, commissioned by multiple Congressional committees, raised concerns about how these tactics employed by publishers have affected affordability for students.

The report cited packaging strategies ranging from the bundling of textbooks to frequent revisions as factors that “may limit the ability students have to decrease their costs.”

Although GAO spokesperson Laura Kopelson acknowledged the market has shifted significantly since 2005, no other study of the same scope has since been requested of the organization.

On the UW campus, the Registrar’s office works to make textbook information, such as the ISBN number, accessible to students as they make course choices — a product of the Bush administration’s 2008 Higher Education Act.

Registrar Scott Owczarek said 2008 brought on initiatives for a common entry system for instructors to easily enter textbook information and get the institutions’ information to bookstores.

“It’s our way of giving students the information in an easy and accessible way so they can make informed decisions in selecting classes and planning for the cost of education,” he said.

New Ways to Learn

The future of textbooks, which some believe is poised to usher in a new model of learning for students, is already here.

One emerging frontrunner in the race to incorporate different forms of media with text is Kno, a California-based educational software company that now offers more than 100,000 textbooks for iPad, web and Facebook interfaces.

Kno spokesperson Jennifer Acree said the titles are available for 30 to 50 percent of the price of conventional textbooks and feature technology such as 3D chemistry models, the ability to link to any third party content and video embedded in text.

“We’ve been getting a lot of traction from all across the country,” she said. “Technology has caught up in every other area of students’ lives.”

Since launching in 2009, the company has expanded to include 2,000 U.S. campuses and is now the No. 1-ranked education app for iPad.

In an effort to combat textbook prices for students on the UW campus, Brower is set to debut three pilot projects featuring interactive web-based materials for students.

The projects, which are the result of a cross-campus collaboration between several colleges, the Division of Information Technology and the libraries, could be a step toward offsetting textbook costs for students in the future if the pilots prove successful.

Brower characterized the pilots — which drew around $50,000 from a number of campus sources — as media-rich websites with interactive demonstrations that will be available to a small number of students for download like an application.

“The purpose is to help package information in a way that makes it easy to communicate a range of material in an understandable way,” he said.

The pilots could play a role in addressing costs for students, but Brower maintains the main goal is to enhance the educational experience for students at a fraction of the price of traditional textbooks.

It may be a little peculiar that I, Mark Kim, am unhappy about buying a textbook. Being the big nerd that I am, I have a tendency to hoard books. I must have spent close to $4,000 buying the textbooks — yes, textbooks — sitting on my not-so-little bookshelf. Though a majority of them are mathematics textbooks, plenty are at best loosely connected to my field of study. Then why must I, a lover of textbooks, cringe whenever I buy my textbooks for many of my classes?

The answer is that many of them are simply not worthwhile purchases. Indeed, the state of the textbook market is atrocious. The prose in science textbooks is not human-readable; in many humanities textbooks, the prose is marred by low-quality filler text surrounding the read-this-and-nothing-else boldfaced sentences. Each new edition of an already horrendous textbook brings no improvement, but bears only a minor permutation in section and page numbers, so that it can be force-fed to new students. The prices are reaching heights every year, yet the highly specialized editorial staff who supposedly justifies this inflation lets even the most inane mistakes slip through the cracks. One cannot shake off the feeling that the powers that be are conspiring against him to pay an inordinate amount of money for a book he will never want to read.

All is well, perhaps, if the professor actually makes you use the textbook. All is well if you get to sell back the textbook at a reasonable price. The problem persists, however, even when money is not the issue. The abundance of low-quality textbooks affects the lower-division education as well, when the students are getting the textbooks “for free.” The textbooks are so poorly written that many students never come to accept the simple idea of learning by reading. Every idea must be explained; another generation of people whose educational experiences cease completely at graduation is engendered.

Can you, dear reader, imagine a classic textbook, read by generation after generation? Most likely not, I would imagine: The typical textbooks you have in mind will perhaps run through a few more editions and sink forever into oblivion. There are such things, however, as classic textbooks. Take “A Course of Pure Mathematics” by the British mathematician G. H. Hardy, for example. Originally written in 1908, it is still one of the most widely read introductory college level mathematics textbook. College mathematics curricula changed substantially since then, and “Pure Mathematics” cannot be used as a textbook for a course anymore. Even so, its popularity among students of mathematics has not faded.

“Pure Mathematics” is the product of a time when there was barely a textbook market to speak of. Since there was no such occupation as a textbook writer, each textbook was written by a writer. It would appear the same standard of prose that essay writers and novelists adhere to was expected of a textbook writer. As such, a substantial number of old textbooks were well written, and it was not uncommon for several generations to share the same basic textbooks.

The human knowledge is expanding more rapidly than ever, and perhaps it is impossible for different generations to use the same textbooks. Each will require different kinds of knowledge, and new textbooks will have to be written. I do believe however, that the textbook writers of our time could learn a thing or two from their predecessors. As the legendary mathematical expositor Paul Halmos wrote, “Mathematical writing is ephemeral, to be sure, but if you want to reach your audience now, you must write as if for the ages.” Ideally, textbook writers of any field should follow this dictum.

In a survey done by the United States Public Interest Research Group of students across 13 college campuses, seven in 10 said they have previously decided against purchasing a textbook because of its cost. U. Missouri students are no exception.

Mizzou sophomore Tom Chen, who purchased all the required books for his classes last year, said he realized he was spending a lot more money than necessary to still do well in his classes.

Since Chen’s friend from his residence hall is enrolled in the same genetics class, he figured he could just borrow his book when he needs it.

“It’s a smart business decision,” Chen said. “I’m not going to spend more if I don’t have to.”

Chen is also considering returning his chemistry book since his roommate has the same one.

“Why would you have two of the same books?” he said about the $114 book.

Mizzou freshman Denntreyl Wright also decided not to purchase two books, a combined $160 savings. He said he does not think it will affect his performance in the class since he can borrow the books from friends in the same course.

“Neither of these classes have used the book and just about everything is gone over in lecture,” he said.

The bookstore’s return policy lasts through Sept. 6, giving them extra time to weigh the potential savings they could make over the academic benefits of having their own copy of a textbook.

“At the very least I intend to rent the books I need,” Wright said.

For Wright, purchasing books at the store wasn’t a risk he was willing to take. Although the University Bookstore allows students to sell some of their books back at the end of the semester, they usually are not fully refunded.

“I didn’t buy them because I didn’t want there to be an issue when I took them back and couldn’t get any money for them,” he said.

Of all students interviewed in the PIRG study, 79 percent said they would expect to do at least somewhat worse in a class for which they did not have the required textbook.

MU freshman Lindsey Dinkel, who downloaded a book through Google Books for free instead of buying a hard copy, agrees that her understanding of the text will be more difficult.

“It’s a bummer because I can’t highlight in it,” she said. “I couldn’t focus when I read it.”

Although not having a hard copy of the book makes it harder for her to make notes on the text with sticky notes and annotating, she said saving money is more important to her.

“Your brain starts to shut off and doesn’t process the words,” she said. “But I still won’t buy the book, just because it’s expensive.”

A new website, LibraryPirate, has sent letters to several news outlets calling on students to make digital scans of their printed textbooks and post them for free online, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. This site is a copycat version of another site, Textbook Torrents, which was shut down nearly three years ago by publishers for illegally selling e-textbooks, according to the Chronicle.

The online trading that LibraryPirate is asking students to engage in violates copyright law, but that has not stopped people from contributing pirated versions of e-textbooks to the site’s directory. The site now has 1,700 textbooks which are organized and searchable, according to the Chronicle.

The founder of the website has chosen to remain anonymous for fear of legal action against him, but he hopes that his efforts have an impact on the cost of e-textbooks, which he finds to be unfairly high, according to the Chronicle.

“I want to bring about permanent changes to the textbook industry,” he said. “The exorbitant price of a textbook shouldn’t hinder students’ ability to do well in a class,” he added. “I believe there is a moral objective at play here.”

Sites such as these get attention and notoriety specifically because textbook costs are spiraling out of control. According to one survey, released Tuesday by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, seven in 10 college students said they had not purchased a textbook at least once because they found the price to be too high. Not buying the textbook often leaves the student with the less desirable option of borrowing a book or sharing one with another student.

According to the survey, 78 percent of those students who reported not buying a textbook said they expected to perform worse in that class, even though some borrowed or shared the textbook.

Students should not find themselves having to borrow textbooks for a class or having to share them with another student. Sharing a textbook creates an inconvenience for the students sharing it, because now they have to coordinate their schedules and work around each others’ time to complete homework and study for assignments.

Another practice, known as “bundling,” or packaging a textbook with CDs and passcodes that get lost or expire, also makes textbooks more expensive to obtain. This leaves students often having to pay for a CD that they may not need to use for their class. This increases textbook expenses for students.

The Public Interest Research Group has found textbook costs to typically be comparable to 26 percent of tuition at state universities and 72 percent of tuition at community colleges, according to the Chronicle.

These types of expenditures create a situation that is unsustainable for the average student. The end result is that many students find themselves having to share a book with a classmate and split the cost, or not get the book at all. Some professors will allow students to continue to use older editions of textbooks, but that is not always the case.

Students should not have to go without a textbook due to lack of affordability. Our public universities, in concert with the government entities that provide funding for them, must look for ways to make textbooks more affordable for students.

U. Arkansas Bookstore’s textbook rental program, inaugurated last August, offers average savings of 55 percent off the price of new textbooks, according to a press release.

“I think renting textbooks is a great option for students,” UA senior Sarah Guinn said.

“It’s very frustrating being stuck with a book that I only intend on using for one semester,” Guinn said. “I haven’t looked to see if I’m able to rent any of my books for this semester, but if the option is available, I will probably take advantage of it.”

The rental selection has grown greatly since it began last fall with 400 titles.  This year, the number of books available to rent has doubled, with now more than 800 titles.  There are even more titles available online.

Students can rent textbooks in the store or can order their textbooks online at textbooks.uark.edu.  Textbooks are shipped free of charge, according to the website.

Renting from the University Bookstore could potentially save students hundreds of dollars, but other students keep searching for an even lower rental price.

“Renting books is a great option, and I would challenge students to look around Fayetteville and online on websites like Chegg, DealOz and Amazon to save them the most money on books,” said junior Mike Norton

Often lower prices may be found elsewhere, but after a quick online search, many of the lowest prices were found on the University Bookstore’s website.

For instance, at the time of press, to rent the book Macroeconomics by Gregory Mankiw from the University Bookstore would cost $39.03, according to its website.  The same book would cost $59.99 on Chegg.com and $43.47 on Dealoz.com.  To buy the book new from Amazon.com would cost $138.53.  Biology by Kenneth Miller was $22.39 on the University Bookstore website, while it was $48.99 on Chegg.com and $42.43 on Dealoz.com.

Despite great deals on renting textbooks, many students still prefer buying their books so that they can keep them for semesters and years to come.  The best deals can often be found online, but students can also find them at various places across Fayetteville, including the Campus Bookstore, located at 624 W. Dickson Street.

Students who rent their textbooks and decide that they want to keep their book will be able to.  At the end of the semester, students are allowed to pay to keep their book, and the fee they paid to rent the book will go towards the cost of the book.

Unless students decide to buy their rented textbooks at the end of the semester, they will need to return them on the last day of finals.  No need to mark it on the calendar, though, because University Bookstore staff will send out a reminder a week before finals to return the books.

There’s also no need to worry about keeping rental books completely spotless.  The University Bookstore’s website states that “general wear and tear of the textbook and minimal highlighting is allowed.”  There are, of course, restrictions against missing pages, water damage and excessive marking.

While it may seem that the UA would lose money from the rental program, that’s not the case, said Ali Sadeghi, director of the University Bookstore.  Because the UA will be participating in the renting program with 10 to 12 other bookstores, the bookstore will get to save a lot of money by using each book more than it normally would.

“With this model, books that [UA students] may only be able to use once or twice are sent to other universities for use,” Sadeghi said.

It took the bookstores a long process to perfect the model that they are using today.

“The idea for the textbook rental program came about three years ago,” Sadeghi said. “It spawned from the need to reduce the prices of textbooks for students, in particular the front-end price for students.”

After significant research in collaboration with 10 to 12 bookstores across the country, the bookstores’ directors developed the current model of renting textbooks. With this model, the bookstore works with wholesalers and even publishers to lower prices.

“Basically we came up with the conclusion that everybody really wanted rental books,” he said.

That conclusion was likely encouraged when Associated Student Government senators passed legislation that showed student support of the textbook rental program.  ASG Senators Carl Monson and Mike Norton authored the resolution after 2009-10 ASG President Mattie Bookout gave them the idea to meet with the bookstore’s director.

“He and his staff had already finished quite a bit of research about rental programs at other universities as well as online sites,” Norton said.  “Our goal for the legislation was making sure that the rental price was fair to both the students and the bookstore.”

More and more students are catching onto textbook rental programs in order to stretch their precious dollar to its fullest extent, and hopefully the trend will continue with the beginning of the 2011-12 school year.

“Every penny that we can save our students is good,” Sadeghi said.

Renal Physiology, a digital textbook application created by Dr. Jonathan Kibble, an associate professor of physiology at UCF, launched on April 19 as a less-expensive, high-tech alternative.

The launch is the culmination of a project started two years ago by Kibble and David Rogers, founder and CEO of Allogy Interactive, the Orlando-based mobile application developer.

“The idea was to explore what a next-generation textbook is really going to be,” Rogers said. “We wanted to step beyond simply displaying the content in a new media to doing something more powerful.”

The Renal Physiology app gives students the opportunity to have learning materials with them all the time. It is also designed with a coaching system to organize daily learning and self-assessment.

“There is something special about having your personal things, like entertainment and social networking, all in one place,” Kibble said. “Why not your class materials too?”

This idea allows people to see the inner workings of the kidneys through their iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches.

This app, an interactive version of part of Kibble’s textbook, The Big Picture: Medical Physiology, is just the first in a series about physiology, according to UCF News and Information.

The material was reformatted, and some new writing was done to create features like terminology, quizzes and clinical correlations, Kibble said.

The app will save students cash and aggravation.

“It saves students a ton of money and keeps their backpacks as light as their phone or tablet,” Colin Forward, communications director for Allogy, said.

Not only is it beneficial to medical students, but it can also be a valuable tool for instructors. It is a tool that can enable instructors to monitor their students’ progress.

“It also coaches students all the way through the learning process, even providing reminders for important dates associated with the material, like exams,” Forward said.

After spending some time figuring out what will best help students understand and retain information, the team at Allogy took the content provided by Kibble and worked closely with him to determine the proper methods for displaying graphics, administering quizzes and coaching students through their studies.

“We start with development of a mobile application framework, and then add in the content, test it and find ways to improve the application,” Rogers said. “It is a constant cycle.”

Allogy has built apps for hospitals, nonprofit organizations working overseas and even the federal government. They are currently working on a project right now that is a next-generation mobile electronic health record, Rogers said.

As of now, all the apps created by Allogy are geared toward the medical field, but they have the tools and capability to create apps for any program at UCF. If any teacher or department wants to create their own digital textbook, Allogy can help them through the whole process, Rogers said.

“Our goal is to make textbooks more affordable, and that starts with the subject-matter experts,” Rogers said.

The app is now available for $9.99 from the Apple App Store.

“It’s amazing to create something that has real-world application,” Farid said as he stepped away from a computer screen displaying complex code.

Since the advent of the Internet, the distribution of child pornography has exploded, according to Farid.

“It used to be that if you wanted this material you had to go to the seedy part of town,” he said. “There was a huge obstacle and barrier to entry if you will. Now of course it’s much easier, and with demand comes supply, of course.”

Although PhotoDNA cost Microsoft millions of dollars to develop, the company donated the software to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for free in 2009, Farid said. NCMEC has since been contacted by law enforcement officials worldwide expressing interest in the program, and NCMEC plans to administer PhotoDNA to companies that request the software for free, Ernie Allen, Chief Executive Officer of NCMEC, said in an interview with The Dartmouth.

Microsoft — which currently uses PhotoDNA in the programs Bing, SkyDrive and Hotmail — hopes that Facebook’s use of the software will pressure other major web services to follow suit, according to Farid.

“I think it would probably be a little grandiose to think [PhotoDNA] will eradicate [the distribution of child pornography on the Internet],” Allen said. “I think it’s going to send a message to the child pornographers and to the pedophiles that the online world is going to become a hostile place to them.”

The software will help locate thousands of pictures of children, and will hold individuals who are using the Internet for child pornography responsible for their actions, Allen said.

Once images containing child pornography are interdicted by PhotoDNA, the issue needs to be addressed from both a policy and legal standpoint, Farid said.

If an online company using PhotoDNA, such as Facebook, discovers an illegal image, it must report the photo to law enforcement officials. The government already receives more reports of child pornography than it can logistically investigate and the deployment of PhotoDNA will likely inundate law enforcers with exponentially more reports, Farid said.

Beyond reporting images of child pornography to government officials, the action that other online companies take is an internal decision, he said.

Although any company that decides to use PhotoDNA is given all pertinent information regarding how to use the program to identify sexual offenders, Microsoft decided to keep the fundamental technology “as confidential as possible” so as to prevent criminals from discovering a way to evade PhotoDNA, Farid said.

The photos that PhotoDNA identify are “the worst of the worst,” Allen said. These “crime scene photos,” are of prepubescent children under the age of 12 being violently sexually abused, according to Allen.

The software is remarkably accurate, Farid said. At Microsoft, 1 billion images have been scanned and not a single false positive was found, he said.

PhotoDNA circumvents various problems regarding the identification of offensive photos by meeting three criteria, according to Farid. PhotoDNA first extracts a signature that does not change as the image is compressed or altered. Second, no two images share the same signature. Third, the signature takes only four milliseconds to compute, which means that a single computer can extract 20 million signatures per day, he said.

The number of images of child pornography that PhotoDNA has identified so far leads Allen to believe that the sharing of such images is a much greater problem than initially expected, he said.

Before Farid was commissioned to develop his software, the U.S. Department of Justice asked major technology companies including Microsoft, Google, AOL, Earthlink and Yahoo! to develop a solution to address the flow of child pornography circulating on the Internet, according to Farid. These companies banded together to form the Technology Coalition, he said.

“They would dutifully meet in Washington once or twice a week for a few years and do nothing — absolutely nothing,” Farid said. “They kept talking about how hard this problem is.”

The coalition struggled to differentiate between acceptable photos and those containing sexual abuse without obstructing the efficiency of Internet programs, Farid said.

The Microsoft team, then headed by Tim Cranton, had read an article in The New York Times that featured Farid’s work in digital forensics. Cranton. eager to enlist the help of a professional well-versed in photo identification technology, invited Farid to a coalition meeting in Washington, D.C., in early 2008, Farid said.

Before Farid joined the team, the Coalition had been unable to develop software capable of scanning the billions of photos that are uploaded to the Internet each day, Farid said.

Farid proposed that the coalition use images in the NCMEC database to eliminate the redistribution of those same photos. The database currently holds 50 million images of child pornography and adds 250,000 each week, according to its website. Because photos are copied and redistributed to hundreds of computers, the identification of one photo as a match to a photo in the database could incriminate hundreds of individuals, Farid said.

“My idea was, don’t try to go after things you haven’t seen before — go after the things you have seen before,” Farid said. “Go after the images that you know are child porn, that you know are horrible, that you know who the victims are and that you know people keep trafficking.”

That wasn’t always a focus, said biochemistry professor Paul Siliciano.

“We were leaving untapped the power of the competitive marketplace,” he said, particularly given the school’s size. He said that when publishing company representatives presented new books to professors, their price was rarely mentioned.

“It’s sort of like somebody buying a really loaded car, except they don’t have to pay for it,” he said. “There’s a disconnect there.”

But Siliciano said that has changed in recent years, helped by a trend of some professors who teach large courses, like chemistry, to negotiate multi-year contracts with publishers in exchange for lower costs.

According to University of Minnesota Bookstore manager Bob Crabb, that strategy seems to be working. Despite publishers increasing prices 5 to 6 percent over the last several years, he said, the average price of textbooks in the University’s bookstore has gone down since last year.

“The only way that can happen is if faculty are making a concerted effort to select lower-price books,” he said.

Still, the profit motive of booksellers can frustrate professors.

Professor Tom Holmes said the substance of the textbook for his introductory economics course changes little year to year, but they update the text with different graphics and examples from current events.

“The edition doesn’t change at all,” he said. “They only things they change are the pictures. It’s shocking.”

While Crabb called publishers “relentless in their pursuit” of higher costs despite the scrutiny of those costs, he acknowledged that publishers need to cover production expenses. He said by the third or fourth run of a volume the sales pale in comparison due to used book sales.

Tom Stanton, spokesman for textbook publishing company McGraw-Hill, said publishers’ revenue comes from the first sale of the print textbook only.

“The largest percentages of the wholesale textbook price,” he wrote in an email, “cover author royalties, paper [and] printing,” among others.

Crabb said the business used and rental books take from new books forces publishers to raise prices, which in turn drives students to purchase more used and rental books.

“It’s kind of a vicious circle,” he said.

Despite the appeal of alternatives, Crabb said cheaper e-books haven’t caught on. “It’s got the whole industry baffled.”

He said part of the reason might be because many e-books don’t add any value, despite the potential of their electronic platform.

“Currently they’re pretty much PDFs of paper books,” he said, adding that publishers are developing interactive features on books.

Until then, he said, “They just don’t stand up to a paper book you can flip back and forth in and mark up.”

“We don’t see e-books as a game changer,” Stanton wrote.

Textbook rentals have proven more popular with students. They accounted for 7 percent of the bookstore’s sales in the last year, but among textbooks available in all forms, that rate jumps to more than a third.

The federal government has also become a force in changing the textbook market. Last summer, regulations requiring publishers to detail information about prices, revision histories and alternate formats went into law, according to a McClatchy report. The law also required publishers to sell multimedia supplements to textbooks separately from the book.

Siliciano said he was pleased with the bookstore’s attempts to keep book prices close to cost. He also said he thinks there should be a “renewed, concerted effort” to bring prices down across the University.

“We haven’t come as far as we’d like to,” he said, citing the difficulty of lowering prices for courses that use multimedia software, website keys and other supplements.

“It’s frustrating because we can’t do anything about tuition,” he said. “But the faculty feels very strongly for the students.

“If we can [help] control textbook costs, it’s a good thing.”

Instead, the University now plans to continue to develop a plan for the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), a vast collection of online volumes that will represent a collaboration between Harvard and many other public and private libraries.

Harvard agreed in 2005 to let Google scan nearly a million books in Harvard’s collections that had already entered the public domain. Harvard was one of four academic institutions initially approached, along with Stanford, the University of California colleges, and the University of Michigan.

But in October 2008, when Google returned to the University with a plan to expand the pool of preserved books to include texts under copyright protection, administrators rejected the proposal, citing the legal risk involved in allowing Google to digitize the new volumes.

According to leaders in the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, a research institute at Harvard Law School, Harvard administrators will continue to focus on the separate DPLA project, with the aim of attracting further capital this spring. The project has already received backing from the Sloan Foundation.

But the initiative faces numerous challenges.

Harvard Law Professor John G. Palfrey ’94, a co-director of the Berkman Center, noted that the project is “incredibly complex,” requiring page-by-page scanning of every volume.

“At this point, I couldn’t even give you an accurate guesstimate of when this project is going to be completed,” Palfrey said.

The project will seek to create a free and accessible online library, allowing for the broader dissemination of written materials to the public. The Library of Congress, the National Archives, and the Smithsonian Institution have already began collaborating on the initiative.

“This is a very, very ambitious project,” University Professor and Director of the Library Robert C. Darnton ’60 said.

Darnton has previously expressed concerns about the Google proposal. He published an opinion piece in The New York Times on Wednesday arguing against Google’s project, calling the New York court’s decision “a victory for the public good” and urging Google to join the coalition spearheading the DPLA program.

“[Google] has scanned about 15 million books; two million of that total are in the public domain and could be turned over to the library as the foundation of its collection,” Darnton wrote. “The company would lose nothing by this generosity, and might win admiration for its good deed.”

Google’s latest legal setback comes after the company settled for $125 million with several publishing houses and the Authors Guild, which had sued for “massive” copyright infringement in 2008.

The following year, the Department of Justice raised initial objections to Google’s settlement, saying the agreement violated antitrust laws and would put much of the digitized resources available under the purview of one for-profit firm.

It is nearly impossible for young adults from the United States to understand what it means to not have access to books. We have never truly had to hide our books away for fear of political prosecution; or worse, experience getting caught reading with a flashlight at night or hiding a book in our desk during class. We cannot imagine going into a Borders or a Barnes and Noble and seeing only government-approved books and magazines, and I know we wouldn’t want to.

Many of the books that were previously banned or criticized in the United States are now glorified. The American Library Association sponsors Banned Book week in the last week of September and this year the NCSU Libraries and the Society for Collegiate Journalists rounded up students and administrators to read excerpts from some of them. Chancellor Woodson read a part from The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, and Coach Elliott Avent read Gone with the Wind. Many of these books are also assigned reading in high school meant to make us think, as well as to reflect on a time when the ideas were contrary to thinking in society. Tunisia and Egypt can now experience a renaissance in ideas and thinking.

As free citizens, we can relate and relish with the Egyptian and Tunisian citizens that the ideas and stories from decades ago are now free to flow in these countries. Books are an accessible way of spreading knowledge and ideas, and setting the tone of society. According to Time, La Regente de Carthage by Nicolas Beau and Catherine Graciet, a book which outlined the corruption of now former Tunisian first lady Leila Ben Ali’s family, was promptly banned there when it was published in 2009. Since the outing of the regimes, the book and many others are now reappearing in bookstores in Egypt and Tunisia for sale, which can help these societies reestablish their identity.

Thomas Jefferson, known for his love of books, said, “My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.” From our early days as a country we believed this. Freedom of the press is guaranteed in the First Amendment, and has protected our right to freely write and disseminate information from the government since the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791. This freedom is now a reality for Tunisia and Egypt. These countries can start enjoying again the freedom that reading and writing give a society.

Whether it is paying the overpriced tuition, which increases and increases inexplicably, or paying for a less-than-desirable meal plan, it is all one big rip off after the other.

There is a reason that there is a cliché about the struggling poor college student.

One of the biggest offenders of this is the textbook prices.  You do not have to have a column in The Hawk with a catchy title to complain about this.  This is one of the main reasons I have always kept my mouth shut, because everyone and their mother (literally) complains about this each semester.

It certainly is not groundbreaking news here.  It is just a fact that purchasing textbooks from a college bookstore is going to be expensive.  Why do you think websites like half.com are on   the rise?

The SJU Bookstore has had a new remedy for this particular grievance with their implementation of the option to rent your textbooks.  Through renting textbooks, one only has to pay a much smaller renting fee, and only if you lose or damage the book will you have to pay the  full price.

How convenient, right?  Well it would be if they rented more than one text per class.

The main texts that are available to rent are the texts that are used frequently or each semester.  This is great if you are taking the basic Texts and Contexts English course—aka if  you are a freshman.

However, if you are a senior taking upper division courses—or you are in the business school—in  which textbook editions change every year, renting is not an option at all.

There are websites that have always offered this option.  However, sometimes the convenience of the bookstore comes in handy.  When you need a textbook last minute and cannot wait the 7-10 business days through Amazon, the bookstore is the safest choice.

Then, when going in there and seeing that an 80 page book costs $90, you cannot help but feeling both ripped off and like you just sold a little bit of your soul to the devil.

Plus it does not help that there are the “Rent Now” signs posted everywhere.  Well, SJU Bookstore, I would love to rent now.  I would rent every single textbook on my list if I could.  Emphasis on ‘if I could’.

What really does not help after you spend that $90 on a textbook, is when you go into your class and the professor admits that you will only be using said book once or twice that semester, but you still need it – insert an explicative or two that you know you are thinking in your head right now. Two things are wrong with this picture.

One being the simple sentiment: seriously?  The second being that in this scenario if renting this particular book was an option, then this whole situation would not be such an annoyance.

Now many people are quick to jump on the professor for this.  That age-old complaint that they are making you buy books that they wrote for outrageous prices because—why not?  Well, I do not agree.

No, I am not simply sucking up to my professors here. If they were purposely out to drain their students’ bank accounts, then how come I have had so many professors that have recommended right from the beginning to go to an online source, like Amazon, and not the SJU Bookstore?  As easy as it is to blame a professor for anything, they understand how overpriced textbooks can be.

Plus, I have noticed a particular grievance with the bookstore from professors this year.  I have had multiple courses this semester in which the professor has found out the first week of classes that the bookstore had either ordered the wrong book, or not enough books.

Let me tell you, hearing a professor go off about the bookstore is extremely rewarding when you feel exactly the same way.

It is like that feeling of seeing a professor outside of the classroom at a grocery store or a similar setting.

I highly doubt that bookstore textbook prices will miraculously drop, because this has been going on for years.  At this point, college students are so used to getting completely ripped off in every way.   No, it does not make sense to pay over $20 for a small paperback book at all, but that is just the way it is.

Just like it does not make sense to pay what students pay for Aramark food.  Maybe, with time, students can hold out and hope that renting textbooks will become more accessible to include all required books, and that the bookstore will actually get better at ordering the right books.

As for the overpriced tuition and Aramark, I am not holding my breath on those two.

Retired Army Col. Gary LaGrange started the organization in the basement of his home after a soldier informed him about the great need for school supplies in Baghdad. More units began to ask for similar supplies as goodwill projects. Soon, schools in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa were benefiting, LaGrange said.

K-State’s involvement with the Help Us Learn…Give Us Hope foundation is nothing new, said Art DeGroat, director of military affairs and a retired Army lieutenant colonel.

“We have been collecting donated books for the foundation for a number of years as a responsible way to get a useful secondary value of un-needed texts here,” DeGroat said.

President Kirk Schulz, DeGroat and other K-State administrators visited Basrah in November as guests of a Fort Riley outpost. DeGroat saw firsthand the neglect and misuse of the university that was once the crown jewel of the Middle East as a result of Saddam Hussein’s rule.

Many textbooks were destroyed, resulting in a shortage of current, viable books, LaGrange said. Basrah University officials, despite the hard task of rebuilding the education system, were hopeful for the future. The visit resulted in a partnership between the two universities.

“I saw a new dawn of opportunity for their university leaders to rebuild, build modern competencies and educate the members of their society,” DeGroat said.

One reason K-State’s focus is on Iraq is to encourage Iraqi students to study at K-State, DeGroat said. K-State is not alone in assisting Iraq with rebuilding their universities, DeGroat said; seven other American and international universities are doing the same.

While K-State is focusing on donations toward higher education, the Help Us Learn…Give Us Hope foundation needs supplies for any grade level, such as pens, pencils, chalk and dictionaries. Find a full list and more information at the foundation’s website, helpuslearngiveushope.org.

The convergence of books and portable electronic devices has taken the book industry to a whole new level. With affordable prices on books, lightweight portability and ability to purchase a book right on the spot, it is no wonder why sales of e-books has surpassed paperback sales.

The Apple iPad, Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, Sony Reader and Kobo eReader are among some of the top selling e-reader devices today. All of these devices have great advantages, which have caused a great competition among each other. But what makes The Amazon Kindle come out on top?

This past week Amazon reported that Kindle books are now outselling paperbacks on Amazon. The Kindle bookstore has 810,000 books available compared to Apple’s iBook Store that only has 150,000 books available.

On The Kindle, new releases usually start around $9.99 and there are thousands of books available for free. Amazon is providing a mega bookstore wherever you go and more affordable prices on books, it isn’t a wonder why readers are turning to The Kindle.

The Kindle seems like a perfect solution for college students to save on the expensive prices of textbooks. This device only weighing a light 8.5 ounces weighs less that a standard paperback, and weighs less than a back pack full of heavy textbooks.

Looking around in most of my classes I’m shocked to see that not many students are turning to devices like The Kindle to save on the price of textbooks.

“Even though prices for e-books are visibly smaller, the difference isn’t enough to make up the feeling for reading a real book. I also prefer to highlight and make notes in my textbooks which I can’t do on The Kindle,” said junior Scott Dubowsky.

It is understandable to see students and other readers set on their traditional ways of purchasing a book. Sitting down and reading a good book is a timeless tradition that I can’t see completely dying out, but sales will be significantly affected, which we have seen already the beginning stages of.

The Kindle and other e-bookstores have forever changed the way the book market operates. Publishers will have to change their publicity tactics if we are converting to all digital.

The advantages of more affordable books on The Kindle will certainly outweigh the disadvantages of the lack of paperback books.

It’s no secret that websites like Half.com and major Internet distributors like Amazon have been providing ample reasons — most preceded by dollar signs — to plan ahead when it comes to ordering textbooks online.

On July 1, a new law that is part of the Higher Education Opportunity Act took effect, making it easier for students to anticipate the costs of a course prior to registration.

Baylor now provides the ISBN and retail information for all books required for a course. The new law provides students with another way to seek cost-effective and sound textbook options.

Official numbers won’t be available until mid-semester, but a projected average has the Rent-a-Text program saving students more than half of their book costs.

Some books have a rental fee at or only slightly below the cost of a used version, making it more advantageous to purchase the book with the ability to sell back.

Even though the rental option is not the best option in all cases, the program is a step in the right direction.

As more students look off-campus to purchase their books, the on-campus bookstore is beginning to incentivize students. The bookstore’s location and Baylor connection, paired with the rental option, makes the store a highly competitive option for students.

If students continue to embrace this more affordable option, the Baylor Bookstore should consider increasing the number of textbooks available for rent — especially those that affect the most students at Baylor, such as the texts for Christian Scriptures courses.

The entire textbook system, not just rentals, has numerous kinks in its system. From the transition to a highly digital era to the annual release of the new edition of a book, the college textbook system has much to conquer.

This new program is one small victory for the Baylor Bookstore. The rental option alleviates some of the financial stress on students, while also serving as a great way to promote conservation in a world more focused on green efforts than ever before. Thanks to rentals, a book serves more students and will not simply sit on a shelf unused.

The Lariat applauds the new rental program and recommends students further investigate their on-campus options for texts.

The Baylor Bookstore recognizes the fervor students possess in searching for affordable texts and that if it was to move toward a more technology-focused inventory students of our generation would be sure to take it and run with it.

As a national research institution we ought to be one of the first to research, implement and improve cutting-edge innovations — including the innovations surrounding course textbooks.

Overall, the new program is cost-efficient, helpful and a promising sign for changes to come.

Students, on the other hand, have less to worry about. Rental prices slashed dollars off textbook prices.

Additionally, the end-of-semester burden of selling textbooks back to the store for a mere fraction of the original price is no longer an unavoidable reality. With rentals, returning books is as simple as paying a fee for your books and sending them back five months later. Renting books is an elementary concept and is surprising it was not demanded sooner.

That being said, the new option for renting books still isn’t drastic enough. Even the rental prices are not “cheap,” by student’s standards. Semester rental prices at UK Bookstore, Kennedy Bookstore and similar stores are comparable to the purchase prices at the cheapest online retailers.

Purchasing textbooks online trumps local options, yet again. For renting a book only five months, the price should be significantly lower than the retail price.

Students can simply ill-afford to purchase textbooks each semester, especially when new editions are released seemingly annually. This often leaves desperate buyers out of luck when browsing the web for the cheapest books.

According to an Aug. 26 Kernel article, Sally Wiatrowski, the director of retail operations at UK Bookstore, claims students saved more than $6 million at the 27 book rental pilot stores. The numbers could be monumental on a larger national scale, because textbooks have historically been the largest hidden fees of attending college.

But bookstores may not be losing as much money as they expect by lending out textbooks one semester at a time.

As the idea takes shape and becomes the traditional way to acquire books, stores will bring in more money. Less buyers will be forced to rifle through website upon website and instead turn to their nearest book rental program, thus stimulating the income of those stores.

Students looking for uncommon or niche textbooks are still left hopeless, considering the UK Bookstore rents only one-third of its entire book collection, most other stores even less.

Once stores offer their entire stock for rent, equilibrium will be reached.

In the same Aug. 26 Kernel article, local business spokesmen say the rental business is doing very well and acknowledge the benefits it brings to students. It does appear bookstores appreciate the relief they bring students with textbook rentals, but it is uncertain whether sellers will be able to provide all books in that fashion.

Hopefully, as the rental trend becomes the norm, lower prices will too.

The Eagle is here to help. Each issue, on page five, there will be a consumer report for those at AU to consult for advice on purchases made in and around campus.

Buying textbooks for class can sometimes feel like adding insult to injury to students and families already spending thousands.

The average first-time student at a four-year university paid up to $898 solely on textbooks for the 2003-2004 academic year, according to a July 2005 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. That same report revealed that over the previous two decades, prices for college textbooks increased by twice the rate of inflation.

But this year, several things are on AU students’ side when they pay for college textbooks: the AU bookstore’s new rent-a-text program, the option of buying used instead of new, Amazon.com for students and the Higher Education Opportunity Act.

Rental and used textbooks

For the first time, the American University Campus Store is offering students the option of renting their textbooks for the semester. There are advantages and disadvantages to doing this as opposed to buying used.

One advantage: It affords greater up-front savings.

The rental price of a textbook generally tends to be about half the price of buying new, according to Helen Ricotta, assistant manager at the American University Campus Store. The price of a used book can be around 30 percent less than that of a new, according to Ricotta.

Renting guarantees those savings. When a student buys a used textbook, the price may only be 30 percent off a new book, but if they sell it back to the bookstore, they can receive half of what they paid for it originally.

Let’s say you have to buy a textbook that is worth $100 new. Should you rent or buy used? Depends.

If you rent, you will only pay about $50. If you buy used, you pay $70 upfront. But if you sell the book back at the end of the year you could get up to $35 back, giving you a total savings of $65 from buying it new.

Renting gives you the advantage of up-front savings, but in buying used, there is no guarantee that you will be able to sell the book back at the end of the semester, according to Ricotta. The bookstore only buys back what it will need, which it does not know until professors put in their orders for the next semester, she said.

In addition, a used book is not always available for sale at the bookstore, in which case the rental option becomes the only way to save.

“If the new book is all we have, renting is absolutely the best bet,” Ricotta said. “We’re really excited about rental because it really is a savings.”

Amazon Student

Amazon.com touts 30 percent savings on new textbooks and 90 percent savings on used textbooks offered for sale through the website, but this year many have joined Amazon Student to take advantage of free two-day shipping for a year as well as other advantages.

Amazon Student is “a free membership program created especially for college students,” who can sign up using their school e-mail address, according to the website.

In addition, members of the program receive exclusive discounts on Amazon products for which they receive notifications on their student e-mail.

Many have found real savings using websites like Amazon, as well as on the site Half.com (an eBay company) and other sites. Plus, you never know what may be for sale on Craigslist.

Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA)

The textbook provision of the Higher Education Opportunity Act went into effect July 1 for the purposes of “decreasing costs to students and enhancing transparency and disclosure with respect to the selection, purchase, sale and use of course materials,” the law reads.

One key provision prohibits publishers from bundling supplemental materials like CDs with textbooks. Supplemental materials often drive costs higher.

The HEOA also establishes that publishers must release to the faculty who choose course materials certain information. This includes the price at which publishers will sell books at campus stores, descriptions of content revisions from previous editions and other forms in which the textbook may be available (such as paperback, unbound etc.).

Ricotta said she does not often see a change in the book’s edition required by AU professors. They do not change the edition required for the class if the changes in the book are minor.

Furthermore, among several other provisions, the HEOA amendment says that a link to the campus bookstore or the ISBN number of course materials must be listed alongside online course registration so that students will know the exact books they will be required to access for the class.

Another report from the GAO, to come out by July 1, 2013, is also required under the HEOA provision, with information on the availability of college textbook information and the availability of pricing information to faculty from publishers.

Staff writer Tamar Hallerman contributed to this report.

mfowler@theeagleonline.com

price CHECK
Example: the cost of a General Education, Area 1, first level textbook

“Biological Science”
Author: Scott Freeman
Edition: 4th
ISBN: 9780321598202

American University Campus Store:
New: $197.00
Used: $147.75
Rent: $88.65 (Return date 12/18/2010)

Amazon:
New: $176.50
Used: $174.90

Half.com:
New: $179.95
Like New: $180.00
Good: $179.99

Example: the cost of a General Education, Area 3, first level textbook

“International Relations”
Author: Joshua S. Goldstein and Jon C. Pevehouse
Edition: 9th
ISBN: 9780205780211

American University Campus Store:
New: $124.25
Used: $93.25
Rent: $55.91 (Return date 12/18/2010)

Amazon:
New: $111.97
Used: $111.98

Half.com:
New: $106.75
Like New: $106.75
Good: $111.98

Example: the cost of a General Education, Area 4, first level textbook

“Macroeconomics”
Author: David C. Colander
Edition: 8th
ISBN: 9780077247171

American University Campus Store:
New: $159.25
Used: $119.50

Amazon:
New: $98.24
Used: $85.00

Half.com:
New: $102.45
Like New: $100.00
Good: $99.99
Example: the cost of a mathematics requirement textbook

“Intro to Practice of Statistics”
(with CD)
Author: David Moore, George P. McCabe and Bruce Craig
Edition: 6th
ISBN: 9781429216227

American University Campus Store:
New: $159.00
Used: $119.25 (no more copies available for this semester)

Amazon (prices listed were lowest offered by press time):
New: $78.94
Used: $75.00

Half.com:
New: $75.00
Like New: $74.90
Good: $75.00

(All prices checked Aug. 29)

For the first time, the Penn State U. Bookstore is offering students the option to rent their textbooks.

Penn State Bookstore Manager Steve Falke said the bookstore now offers about 900 titles in the rental service and began offering the rental service because “that’s what students were telling us that they wanted.”

The numbers won’t be in for a few weeks, but the bookstore has received positive comments so far, Falke said.

“People are trying to get their arms around it,” Falke said. “The longer the option is available and it becomes part of the routine of book buying, the more it will get used, like any new process,” Falke said.

While renting textbooks or buying them used online has been a growing trend, some students still prefer to buy them directly from the bookstore.

Brianne Kyle (senior-architectural engineering) said she’s rented and purchased used textbooks from the GotUsed Bookstore, 206 E. College Ave., downtown. She said that she likes the convenience of having the books right away, rather than having to wait for them to be shipped to her. GotUsed Bookstore also offers textbook rentals.

Falke voiced similar sentiments, saying the new rental service is about giving students options. “When people are provided those kinds of options, it’s a plus for their shopping experience,” he said.

Kyle said she only bought three of her books this year and four last year. She estimates that she spent $200 –and that she saved just as much by buying used and renting. “I think it’s a good idea, especially with college kids and their tight budgets,” Kyle said. “Books cost a lot of money.”

While waiting in line at the student bookstore Sunday, Rachel Cotter said she tried to buy her books online from sites like eBay.com.

Cotter (sophomore-biobehavioral health) said she thought the rental service was a good idea, because of the low returns from reselling textbooks at the end of the semester. “If you resell the books, you get like a tenth of what you paid,” Cotter said.

Lauren Fraser (senior-psychology) was in line buying textbooks Sunday afternoon, but said she’d look into the rental service in the future. Textbooks are so expensive that the rental service seems like a good deal, Fraser said.

Fraser said she thought the rental service would “definitely” be a benefit in helping students save money and, for that reason, may entice more students into acquiring their books from Penn State’s bookstore.

“Costs play such a huge part in where students buy their books,” Fraser said. “So if it’s more cost-friendly, more students will come here to buy books.”

On a conference call to reports on July 21, Durbin said that it is “very clear to me that textbook costs have gotten out of control,” which is why he sponsored the provisions. The provisions require textbook polishers to disclose textbook prices to professors that evaluating publisher-provided copies. It also requires that textbook supplemental material such as software of workbooks be unbundled from the textbook, and that colleges are required to include the prices of textbooks and their ISBNs on the course listing website.

Ed Slazinik, director of the Illini Union, said the University has complied with the act by providing a link from the course listing website to the Illini Union Bookstore website.

However, the act has also spurred bookstores to find new ways to reduce costs. In the spring of 2009, the Illini Union Bookstore started a textbook rental program, which allows students to rent textbooks instead of purchasing them.

“After the re-authorization of the Higher Education Act, we had to find different ways to reduce textbook costs,” said Bradley Bridges, associate director for retail operations for the Illini Union Bookstore.

Bridges said that textbook rentals have grown by almost 400% since the fall of 2009 to the spring of 2010.

The other two major bookstores, Folletts and T.I.S., also began offering textbook rentals in the spring of 2010. One of the problems the rental program has run into is textbooks that come with online content and a passcode, which cannot be re-rented next semester, said Brian Paragi, store manager at T.I.S.

Offerings of rental books at T.I.S., Illini Union Bookstore and Folletts have increased.

“We have tripled the number of titles that are available for rental since the program started,” Paragi said.

Students that rent books must sign a rental agreement that stipulates when the book must be returned and in what condition.

The fact that the credit card holder must sign a rental agreement could be a potential problem for students.

The bookstore uses their credit card as collateral if the book is damaged.

Students can write or highlight text, but if excessive damage is incurred, there could be an additional fee that totals to the full cost of the textbook, said managers from all three stores.

Another option also being offered to students looking for lower textbook prices is e-books, a fully online text.

Students can purchase access from the bookstores, which gives them access to the URL and password.

“Typically, you get access to the book for a set period of time typically from six months to a year,” Paragi said.

Various Internet websites, along with the SUPe Store, are now offering a book rental program to lower expenditures on textbooks.

On average, students spend about $4,000 in textbooks throughout their college career, said Tina Couch, vice president of public relations for chegg.com, an online textbook rental and purchasing site.

Search engine bookfinder.com scans about 300 websites, helping students compare prices of over 150 million books, said Scott Laming, public relations manager for bookfinder.com.

“We do the leg work,” said Laming. “Students can compare prices without having to visit multiple sites to help them decide what is the best option.”

Websites noticed that students used books per semester and many implemented a rental program.

Chegg.com operates similar to Netflix. Students can shop online, select the longevity of the rental and the order is delivered in an orange box, Couch said.

“Students who rent their text books can save about $2,000 or 80 percent over the course of their college career using Chegg.com,” Couch said. “We offer rentals and digital supplements.”

“Once students are done with the books they put them back in the box and can return the books free of shipping charges,” Couch said. “We will plant a tree on your behalf.”

Chegg.com has an iPhone application, allowing students to rent books wherever.

For students who are concerned with getting their books on time for class, Chegg.com offers different tiers of shipping, from overnight to five to seven business days.

The SUPe Store has also integrated a rental program this year.

The SGA approached the SUPe Store about a rental program, which was piloted last year with three titles, said Teresa Shreve, director or the University SUPe Store.

This year the program is in effect and offers about 484 titles for rent for Fall 2010.

Bernadette Chavira-Trull, associate director of books for SUPe Store, said prices vary for each rental title. Students may save up to 55 percent when renting a book instead of purchasing it.

UA students are invited to rent the available textbooks at the SUPe Store’s Ferguson Center, Tutwiler Hall and Law school locations, Shreve said.

Five books covering a wide variety of subjects from the SUPe Store’s Tutwiler location totaled $469.30 without taxes. Using bookfinder.com the same books totaled $184.09, including shipping. That is a total savings of $285.21.

Of the five books compared, only one of them was available for rent at the SUPe Store.

Books on the Internet are typically cheaper than those sold at a campus bookstore due to competition, Laming said. Internet sites have to compete nationally, so they must drop prices and have a greater supply. Campus bookstores compete locally and may not have as much stock, he said.

According to bookfinder.com, to get a good deal on books, students need to buy used, pay attention to condition, buy books early, consider an older edition, consider renting and sell your books when you’re done.

E-books, or electronic books, are an alternative to the standard paper page books. E-books, along with handheld e-readers like the Kindle from Amazon.com or the Nook from Barnes and Noble, are mainly marketed as an alternative to buying novels, but the devices can just as easily be used for electronic textbooks.

Here at GCSU, e-books have already become an alternative to carrying around a textbook for some classes.

“You can get (your e-book) right away,” said Janet Tasker, textbook manager at Box Office Books. “It saves students up to five percent.”

Though an electronic copy of a book is cheaper, the bookstore only sold four last year. In addition, not all textbooks are available as e-books.

In addition to selling e-books, GCSU recently ordered around 40 iPads for various departments of the school to use as teaching aids. The iPads can also be used for reading e-book files.

While the online textbooks do not cost as much as their paper counterparts, you have to own some extra equipment to read the digital version.

A standard computer can be used to read e-books and many sites such as Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble’s Web site allow you to download their e-reader programs for free. However, if you want a more portable option you would have to purchase a handheld e-reader, smart phone, or PDA. These devices can range in price at retail stores depending on features.

The major benefits of using an e-reader are the physical differences. Where one textbook can weigh five pounds, e-readers weigh around 10 ounces. Textbooks also take up more space than the average e-reader. If space is limited, an e-reader would be a space-saving alternative to large books.

Also e-books are usually priced lower than regular textbooks.

Students spent an average of $667 in the past year on course material, according to a study conducted by the National Association of College Stores. The study also showed that the average price of a new textbook in a campus bookstore was $64, but this average includes “books and materials not published as textbooks.” The NACS has a list of examples including “novels for literature classes, [biographies] for history courses, or current paperbacks for sociology and political science students.”

No matter what schools decide to do, the important preference is that of the students.

“Use of e-books on campus would probably decrease students’ textbook expenses, provided that the textbook is available in an electronic format and the student owns a means to read the material,” said Lauren Canova, an accounting major. “And it saves trees, if you’re into that sort of thing.”

However, some students prefer the traditional textbooks.

“I’d rather have a book,” said Dawson Roberts, a creative writing major who has used e-books before for his world literature class. “It’s tangible. You can see your progress. But it’s a tough question. The readers themselves are expensive, but the books are cheap.”

Tasker thinks e-books will rise in popularity over time.

“I think in about 8 to 10 years [e-books] will be the way,” Tasker said.

The project would develop open-source, or free, online textbooks with chapters written by faculty members from all three University of Illinois campuses.

“We are working with all three campuses to find a topic,” Evans said. “Then we will begin looking for faculty to author specific topics.”

Faculty would receive a stipend to author the open-source materials. Sustainability is one potential example of a textbook topic that Evans said faculty members from Illinois campuses have expertise in.

Although open-source textbooks have been developed before, they have not been created at a university-wide level.

“The question is whether a major research institution such as the University of Illinois can do this,” Evans said. “I am confident we can do this, it is certainly a very important project.”

Ray Schroeder, professor emeritus in communications, said he does not usually require a textbook in his class. Schroeder is also the director of the center for online learning Research and Service at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

“My most recent class has been ‘Internet in American Life,” he said. “A (hardcover) textbook in this field would be out of date. Usually there is a two-year delay between manuscript and distribution.”

Schroeder said he believes writing hardcover textbooks does not seem like a good business model in the 21st century with the amount of money lost in publishing, printing and delivering a textbook.

“Materials should be available online or electronically for download,” he said.

In addition to providing up-to-date materials, both Schroeder and Evans said textbook costs need to be reduced.

“We need to raise the collective consciousness on all three campuses about the costs of textbooks, especially in the current economy, money is tight for everybody,” Schroeder said.

Robert Beezer, professor of mathematics at the University of Puget Sound and UI alumnus, and author of an open-source linear algebra textbook that he started writing in 2004, said there is no reason to believe an expensive textbook is always superior to an open-source textbook.

“Part of our job as faculty is to choose books,” he said. “An easy way out is to say a publishing company looked at it and said it was OK.”

Beezer said most specialized textbooks contain some errors, and he believes accuracy is one area in which an open-source textbook has an advantage. Whenever an error is found, Beezer can update his book easily, and said he announces any changes on a twitter account tied to his book.

R. Preston McAfee, a former professor of economics at Caltech and now working for Yahoo Research, said he wrote his open-source economics textbook because he thought economics textbooks were being progressively watered down.

“They weren’t appropriate for a Caltech audience,” he said.

He also said another motivation for writing his open-source book was his belief that newer editions were actually worse than older ones.

McAfee said he felt “(the publishers) were stealing money from students.”

For Schroeder, there should not be issues pertaining to the quality of open-source textbooks.

“Students have the right to expect the best,” he said.

Beezer acknowledged one problem with open-source material is differentiating between good and bad material, which is why he said he is working on getting more reviews on open-source material by faculty members.

Evan said he hoped the first open-source textbook will be produced by fall 2011.

“I would hope that we will have materials available in about a year,” he said.

U. Texas-Arlington Bookstore director, Bill Coulter said UTA offers e-books on its website at a lower price than a physical book. Digital textbooks also eliminate the cost of freight and labor required for hard-cover textbook availability.

“Instead of selling a $200 book, maybe it will be $75,” Coulter said.

Communication studies senior Chelsea Lewis bought a digital technical writing textbook for $40 instead of the physical copy option for $75.

Coulter said UTA students don’t seem to be interested in digital copies. He attributes the reluctance to accept digital texts to the current college generation’s expectation to own a physical textbook for each class.

Coulter said “there is an age group out there that will come up and that is when total acceptance will come.”

“Texas is talking about having digital books solely for K-12. By the time those kids come to college written books will take second place,” Coulter said.

Geology sophomore Tyler Wright said he prefers physical books to e-books.

“You can’t take it everywhere. What is your laptops fails?” Wright said.

Follett, the owner of UTA’s Bookstore and other campus bookstores, created a website specifically for digital book access.

CaféScribe allows students to purchase e-books for up to 50 percent off the cost of physical books. The site also encourages discussions between students who purchased the same textbook.

“The whole concept is like a Facebook thing. We will take this one book UTA has and if you got it on [the site], everybody who purchased that book can discuss the book on CaféScribe,” Coulter said.

Although some students, like Wright, are reluctant to convert from physical texts to e-books, CaféScribe offers students eager to purchase books in digital form an option.

The senior lecturer of philosophy at Indiana U. has written six textbooks through various publishing companies for her courses at IU and said she works every year to make sure new editions are as inexpensive as possible.

“We go through page by page,” Savion said. “I’ve worked all summer to reduce the price.”

But Savion is part of a small minority of professors who can adjust the price of their required reading. For other teachers, pricing choices are entirely in the hands of publishers and bookstores.

To help lower costs, Durbin’s College Textbook Affordability Act — part of the Higher Education Opportunity Act — was recently enacted to simplify and improve communication between publishers and professors.

Assistant Senate Majority Leader Richard Durbin, D-Ill., had the idea for the act when he saw how many professors were unaware of the cost of their own required reading.

But will it work?

“I think it’s a good step, because basically it adds more transparency to the textbook market,” said IU senior Ben Greenberg, creator of Textyard.com. “Students will be able to save money.”

The act will require all publishers to disclose prices to professors as they choose textbooks, information on cheaper formats and a history of revisions.

Professors will thus have more time to make the most cost-efficient decisions.

“One of the main objectives of the U.S. Higher Education Opportunity Act is to increase transparency in the higher education textbook market — a goal we share and support as well,” said Tom Stanton, communications representative for McGraw-Hill Education.

The act will also require colleges to report textbook information for a course before registration, giving students enough time to plan for the expenses and bookstores more time to stock used copies. Savion said she believes this should be easy for all colleges, including IU, to accomplish.

The third provision of the act states that various parts of textbook bundles — including CDs and study guides — must be sold separately.

These changes might help students save money, even as early as this fall, but both Savion and Greenberg agreed working with the IU Bookstore to lower costs is also important.

“Since we partnered with Barnes & Noble, the prices have shot up dramatically,” Savion said.

Though Savion estimated a significant percent increase, the numbers could not be confirmed with Barnes & Noble.

Greenberg said the inflation comes from the costs of running a bookstore, but in the future this problem will become moot. The rental industry will dominate, Greenberg said, comparing it to Blockbuster and Netflix.

“The whole rental model has taken over,” Greenberg said. “That’s happening to the book market. The whole point of having a bookstore is pointless — you could just download from anywhere. It’s going to be huge.”

As of July 1, provisions that have gone into effect in the Higher Education Opportunity Act signed into law by former President George W. Bush in 2008, will help drive down textbook costs, said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) on a conference call to reporters last Wednesday.

“It is very clear to me that textbook costs have gotten out of control,” Durbin said.

Durbin was the original sponsor of the three provisions.

One of the provisions requires publishers to disclose textbook prices to professors that are evaluating publisher-provided copies for use in their course.

In the other provisions, textbook supplement material such as software or workbooks is now required to be unbundled from the textbook. Colleges are also now required to include the prices of textbooks and ISBNs on their course listing website.

U. Illinois has complied with the act by providing a link from the course listings website to the Illini Union Bookstore website, where all course materials and their prices are listed, said Ed Slazinik, director of the Illini Union, who oversees all the operations of the Union and the Illini Union Bookstore.

Since the Union Bookstore is the University’s official bookstore, its prices are currently the only ones provided by the University.

Fred Gottheil, professor of economics and author of multiple economics textbooks, said he often assigns textbooks without checking the prices.

“I don’t pick a text on the basis of price, but on content and readability,” he said.

Gottheil said he assumes the prices are competitive from one textbook publisher to the next.

Thomas Overbye, professor of electrical and computer engineering and co-author of a power systems analysis textbook, said he does not mind students having access to the cost of textbook prices, but cautioned students on deciding whether they were going to take a class based on the price of a textbook.

“I think if any students make a decision whether to take a technical class or not based on the cost of a textbook, that is a bad decision,” he said.

While Overbye said he sympathizes with students over the cost of textbooks, he said while working in industry, he found his textbooks were enormously valuable as a reference, adding that “good textbooks are worth their weight in goal.”

Sarah Peters, junior in LAS, said she has spent about $300 each semester on textbooks.

“I don’t look at or consider the textbook prices when I decide what classes I’m going to take,” Peters said.

Peters said she makes good use of her textbooks by taking notes while reading and using them as references later.

Emmanuel Saldana, junior in Engineering, said he believes textbooks are prohibitively expensive.

“Textbooks are overpriced, and when you sell them back to the bookstore they buy them at a significantly lower price,” Saldana said. “Only to sell them again near the same price you paid for them in the first place.”

Saldana added that he also does not like the fact that new editions of a textbook might be introduced every year, even though most of the content remains the same.

Many students are under the impression that professors write books to make money off students; however many professors disagree.

Overbye said the author of a textbook for a senior-level technical class could potentially make approximately $6,000 to $8,000 a year.

“People think you are making a lot of money writing textbooks,” he said. “If you tell that to people involved in consulting that make upwards of $150 an hour, they will tell you it doesn’t make sense to write a textbook.”

Curtis Perry, professor of English and department head, said he has made about $300 off books he has written, which are mostly geared toward a scholarly audience.

“If you write a textbook that is adopted by a state system, then conceivably you could make a lot of money,” he said.

He said the primary reason professors write books is to further their academic career and contribute information to a certain subject area.

Durbin and the other representatives also addressed open-source textbooks, licensed to be free online and affordable to print, and seen as the next big step in making textbooks affordable.

“I think this is the next stop in terms of the debate on textbooks,” Sen. Durbin said about the Open College Textbook Act, a bill he introduced to conference call attendees.

The idea of online open-source textbooks has been around for over a decade. Schools like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) discussed the idea in 1999 and developed MIT OpenCourseWare, which, according to their website, makes almost all MIT’s course materials available on the Web. This idea also came up within community colleges, too, such as the Foothill de Anza Community College, which established Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) in July 2007.

Durbin’s Open College Textbook Act (bill S 1714), seems to be similar to what MIT and CCCOER have already done. Durbin’s bill would provide grants to colleges and others to create introductory level college textbooks made available online and free to the public.

Student Public Interest Research Groups (Student PIRGS) are very supportive of open-source textbooks, and promote the idea in their Make Textbooks Affordable campaign, which Nicole Allen, Student PIRGS textbook advocate, directs.

Allen said open-source textbooks are gaining popularity with more professors writing them and more students using them.

“Already we have evidence that hundreds of professors and thousands of students are already taking advantage of open textbooks,” Allen, also moderator of the conference call said.

A U. Massachusetts-Dartmouth professor, Dr. Steven White also spoke highly of open-source textbooks during the conference call.

About a year ago White, a professor of marketing and international business, tried Flat World Knowledge, a publisher offering open-source textbooks. He gave one of his classes the choice to use the free textbook online or pay for printed material at most White said was $60 as compared to traditional textbooks that can cost around $130-$240.

“Most of the students in my class, I’d say about 45 to 60 percent used the free online version,” he said. “The quality of the text is outstanding.”

White did not have to worry about new editions because he could simply adopt the new version from online. Through the publisher he used, which operates under the creative common license, White customized textbooks for his classes.

“Two of my three classes in the fall will have open-source text,” he said. “All three spring 2011 will have open-source text.”

The topic of discussion on the conference call was of course the new Textbook Provision, which Durbin, Allen, White and a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Rashi Mangalick all consented the law was a good change.

The new law contains the following three provisions: mandatory price disclosure from publishers to faculty, bundled material must also be offered unbundled and assigned textbooks must be known during course registration.

White admitted in the past he was guilty of not asking for textbook prices and selecting textbooks based solely on content.

“Professors share students’ concern about cost and generally would prefer to assign less expensive books,” he said. “The new law empowers professor to readily identify lower-cost options that suit their instructional needs.”

White said the new textbook provision will help him make educated decisions.

“I’m looking forward to having this information when I select text,” he said.

Mangalick, also board chair of Wisconsin Student PIRGS, said the new law was a huge victory for students.

“It will help us manage costs now while also lowering prices in the long run,” she said.

Sen. Durbin authored the original version of the textbook affordability act, and to get the revised bill passed, he had to agree to allow textbook publishers two years to prepare for the provisions in the new act, which means students could have been benefitting from the new law back in 2008 when Congress passed HEOA.

“This is an important issue to me,” he said, “and my only regret is we gave textbook publishers two years to phase it in.”

After visiting a couple college campuses and hearing about the rising costs of textbooks, Durbin said he decided to do something about it to help alleviate parents and students stress.

“The Higher Education Act Reauthorization finally gave students access to the information and options they need to make educated decisions about managing for their finances in school,” the senator said. “My Open College textbook Act would go further by using the potential of technology to further improve college access, learning and affordability for all students.”

Amazon.com recently launched Amazon Student, a free membership program created especially for college students. The program is catered to helping students save money.

Students who register for Amazon Student immediately qualify for a one-year free subscription to Amazon.com’s premium Amazon Prime service, which normally costs $79 per year.

According to its website, Amazon Student members get exclusive discounts on a variety of products and categories, but the most exciting benefit is the unlimited free two-day shipping through Amazon Prime.

BYU student Loyd Christensen said he found out about the program and immediately registered, hoping to save some money on textbooks.

“I signed up for the free Amazon Prime account because I like to use Amazon to buy books for classes,” said Christensen, a junior majoring in music education. “With the free two-day shipping, I am able to buy books for classes after going to the first day and finding out what books are really needed, and still be able to get them before readings and assignments are due.”

Kelsey Hudson, a junior majoring in exercise and wellness, said that keeping textbook and other purchases local is more appealing to her.

“Though [Amazon Prime] sounds like a good deal, I probably wouldn’t use it for books,” she said. “I prefer to keep it local by buying my books at the Bookstore or using BYU Book Exchange. I might look into it for other purchases though.”

The Amazon Student program provides motivation for students to purchase a variety of other things through Amazon.com.

“Students have to buy books,” Christensen said, “but most also buy computers and computer accessories, mp3 players, CDs, DVDs and more. A free Amazon Prime account provides that much more incentive to buy all these through Amazon.”

According to the website, to qualify for the Amazon Student program, members must be currently enrolled in a college or university with a valid .edu email address to confirm their student status.

“I’ve visited campuses and started talking to parents and others, heard a lot of talk about textbooks and that this was a growing expense,” Durbin said.

Two years after the Senate enacted the Higher Education Opportunity Act, Durbin’s provision of the bill has finally gone into effect to help save college students hundreds of dollars.

It’s titled “Durbin’s College Textbook Affordability Act” and is aimed at lowering textbook costs by regulating and working directly with publishers and colleges.

The act went into effect July 1.

In August 2008, the California Bureau of State Audits released a report summarizing college textbook affordability. The research, which focused on the University of California, California State University and California Community Colleges, showed the increase of prices “outpaced median household income.”
Other research through advocate groups report similar facts.

Durbin said it was data such as these that inspired the textbook affordability act, which will work to address costs in three steps starting this fall.

“Professors don’t know the prices of textbooks, which is hard to believe, but it’s true,” Durbin said. “Professors don’t know. Now, there is no excuse.”

First, publishers will be required to disclose prices to professors, making the marketing process more transparent.

Second, the act will require publishers to offer items in a textbook bundle to be sold separately. All the extra study guides, CDs and more will not have to be purchased together.

Finally, colleges must provide textbook information for all courses before and during registration, not afterward. This lets students plan ahead to save money.

“Publishers have to comply with it, and universities have to take it seriously,” Durbin said. “They will understand the rights under the law and make them work for them.”

Durbin also called upon student groups on campuses to advocate for the law, and for all students use other, low-cost means of obtaining textbooks such as rentals, online shopping and more.

The IU Bookstore, for example, will begin its new textbook rental program this fall. After coming to an agreement with Barnes & Noble, many popular books will be available for rent, and new textbook prices will be lowered.

The law requires publishers to clearly state their prices and the changes made to recent editions of textbooks. This will give professors the information needed to choose less expensive books for their courses.

Nicole Allen, textbook advocate for Student Public Interest Research Groups said the provision will hopefully lead to cheaper books.

“If professors tend to choose less expensive books publishers will have to lower their prices,” Allen said. “It’s basic economics.”

Faculty must give their lists of required books to the book stores sooner, allowing students to know exactly how much a course will cost before enrolling. Professors were required to submit their book lists by March 15 for the fall semester.

“The goal is to allow students the information up front so they know the true cost of the course including the course materials,” Estella McCollum, KU bookstore director, said.

As a part of HEOA, or the Higher Education Opportunity Act, the law was created to provide more information to both teachers and students in an attempt to help students save money.

Allen said their campaign to make textbooks more affordable aims to help students, who lack any control over prices.

“It limits the publishers’ ability to rip people off,” Allen said. “They’re able to take advantage of students because they don’t have a choice.”

Professors were not denied information like the prices of books before the law passed, but it was their responsibility to seek it. The details were not readily available or required.

Megan Greene, professor of Chinese history at U. Kansas, said that the problem of high-priced textbooks lies with the constant need to buy new editions of the same book. She said because the publishers make small changes to the books, the older editions are taken out of circulation, making it difficult to avoid the newest version.

“It’s hard to let your students use the older editions because then there’s not enough of them for all the students,” Greene said. “It’s kind of being forced to buy the newer edition.”

In attempts to end this cycle, the new law states that publishers must include the dates of the last three editions. Allen said she was confident the law would be enforced.

“Watchdog groups like ours will be watching but I don’t think it will come to that,” she said.

Faculty members must also abide by the law to their greatest ability. McCollum said that although there are some cases in which professors can’t list their books by the required date, those who do are helping students save money.

“The increased amount of time helps us gather more used books for the students and price shop,” McCollum said. “We know books are expensive and we try to do what we can to keep the costs down.”

Both sides are convinced their position is just.

The federal Textbook Provision, ensuring price transparency and disclosure, seems to side with students. The law empowers professors with more information regarding textbook prices, copy right dates and descriptions of edition changes, in an attempt to alleviate some financial burdens of students.

After all, professors choose the textbooks for their courses.

But will the July 1 provision and its changes truly help diminish students’ financial woes? Students, professors and publishers weigh in. ASUN president, Justin Solomon, said the provision is good and necessary.

“Although, I would like to see the information regarding the new editions given to students as well. I think this is a step in the right direction, but more can be done to ensure students are getting a good deal on textbooks”, the senior family science major added.

Pat Steer, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate student, recently shopped for textbooks and she’s not sure whether students are getting a good deal.

“The pricing’s kind of absurd,” she said, about a textbook she saw new for $100 and used for $70. “It shouldn’t have been more than $12.”

Student advocates such as Student Public Interest Research Groups or Student PIRGS said textbooks are overpriced and the provision is necessary.

“This law is a tremendous step forward in our fight for textbook affordability,” Nicole Allen, textbook advocate for Student PIRGS and director of the Make Textbooks Affordable campaign, said.

Some UNL professors are not so sure. Colleen Medill, a law professor said the provision appears to involve merely disclosure.

“…and weak disclosure at that,” the author of “Medill’s Introduction to EmployeeBenefits Law: Policy and Practice, Second Edition” said.

As an example, she addressed the requirement to have publishers release in writing the detailed descriptions of changes between the last two editions. She said publishers usually disclose that information already using it as a marketing technique.

“For example, the third edition of my employee benefits law book will be published in the fall, and the big “selling” point is that the book includes new material on the national health care reform laws enacted last March,” she said.

Medill also added that the new editions are necessary in the case of law school because there are always new developments in the law.

“Adopting a new edition means that the professor can avoid having to constantly [explain] that paragraphs in an old version of the textbook have been [superseded] by a new law,” she said in an email.

Medill said she can only speak in the opinion of law school and things could be different for undergraduate textbooks.

“Bottom line: This new federal law appears to be merely window dressing with no real economic benefit to students and more red tape for [publishers], who will, of course, pass on that additional administrative cost on in the form of higher prices for their books,” she said in an e-mail.

Allen responded to professors claiming the requirements unnecessary.

“If they’re already doing it then they shouldn’t have a problem complying,” she said.

Economics professor and pricing expert, David Rosenbaum, is not too sure about the provision, either.

“I don’t think it’s gonna have much impact,” he said about the provision.

He spoke about the disadvantage publishers have over students in a market where teachers decide what students buy for their course.

“So this means publishers have a captive audience,” he said. “The seller has a lot of power.”

Rosenbaum described textbooks as an inelastic demand, which means sellers (publishers and retailers) can raise prices without losing sales.
Three of the four publishing agencies responded to the Daily Nebraskan’s inquiries. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt did not respond. Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill Education and Pearson said they’re in compliance with the new law.

Cengage and McGraw-Hill adjusted their websites to include the wholesale prices; Pearson has not done that, yet. The law does not require publishers to post the information online, it requires publishers to provide professors “in writing” information regarding textbooks or other course material.

Allen said the provision will ensure professors have the information needed to make informed choices and she is excited to see the effects of the law.

“We worked a long time to make this a reality,” she said about the new provision.

Student PIRGS have been working to make textbooks affordable for the past seven years. Their campaign started at the University of California-Irvine when California Student PIRGS chose to add making textbooks affordable to their agenda.

“Back then, students thought campus bookstores were to blame,” Allen said, “But our research showed it was the publishers.”

In 2004, Student PIRGS released a report exposing the many practices publishers use that drive up the cost of textbooks. Some of the practices include bundling or packaging textbooks with CD ROMs and workbooks along with issuing new editions more frequently.
Allen said their research also showed professors care about the costs of textbooks.

“But publishers make matters worse by withholding price information,” she said. “Seventy-seven percent rarely or never provide price information up front.”

And that’s why Allen and Student PIRGS said the new provision was necessary. She sees the provision helping the textbook market operate more normally, Allen said.

The provision also requires universities and colleges to provide students with the lists of textbooks required for a course during registration.

“This gives tech-savy students more an advanced noticed,” she said, adding that students will be able to use that information to search for better deals online.

No real enforcement of the law has been enacted, yet. The law requires the director of the Government Accountability Office report to the authorizing committees on the progress of this law no later than July 1, 2013.

But Allen said that’s not a problem.

“You better believe consumer groups like us are gonna be watching,” the advocate said. “If we catch them, they’ll be in huge trouble. They’re accountable to the public and their shareholders.”

University professors may be legally required to purchase less expensive textbooks, if a bill that was passed unanimously in the Pennsylvania state Senate fares as well in the House of Representatives.

The legislation would require universities in Pennsylvania to form committees within their respective schools to evaluate the educational soundness and price of textbooks, said Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-Pa., who proposed the legislation.

Faculty members’ rights to choose whatever text they wanted would not be compromised, Dinniman said.

“The bill is just asking the faculty to take into consideration the price of the material before assigning text,” he said. “If a faculty member believes an expensive book is best, they still have the right to assign that.”

The bill will also ask something of textbook publishers: to provide professors with information on the exact changes in each new edition.

“We hope to create a culture where faculty members will give thought to the matter of cost,” he said. “We hope that this will assist in reducing the cost, but in no way do we force faculty to do anything.”

Penn State U. spokesman Geoff Rushton said that while the university has no official stance on the bill, if it passes, Penn State would want to ensure faculty rights are not compromised.

“You would want to balance faculty rights with affordability,” he said. “Affordability is a very serious issue, but you also have to respect faculty rights as far as picking the best books for classes goes.”

If the bill comes to fruition, John Lindo, store manager for the Student Book Store at Penn State, said it would have an impact on campus bookstores — even if students ended up purchasing fewer editions of each book.

The idea of a committee on textbooks at the university sounds “cumbersome,” he said.

And just because a book is cheaper doesn’t mean it’s high quality, Lindo said.

“[Students] come here to get a good education and we’d hate to see that compromised by using a book that wasn’t educationally sound,” he said.

But others are less skeptical.

Upon hearing about the legislation for the first time, University Park Undergraduate Association President Christian Ragland said he loves the idea.

“That’s a great idea to really try to find ways to lessen the cost of college,” he said.

A senior, Ragland said one of the first things the freshmen in his group talked about was the high cost of textbooks.

“They asked if the university tried to find the lowest textbook costs,” he said. “I didn’t have a direct answer for them.”

The legislation was unanimously passed through the Senate last week, and Dinniman, a college professor of 35 years at West Chester University, said he is “sure” it is going to pass in the House as well.

A provision of the Higher Education Opportunity Act will require publishers to provide in-depth textbook content and pricing information to faculty when they are selecting content from the publisher, according to a release by the Student Press Law Center.

The act requires that publishers include, in writing, the prices of bundled and unbundled texts, descriptions of content changes between editions, prices and availabilities of other formats of the texts, copyright dates for the most recent three editions and the price of the textbook in question.

Whitney Durham, a junior majoring in social work, said she supported the act’s goals.

“I think that the law couldn’t have come at a better time,” Durham said. “It’s about time somebody advocated for the students in relation to how expensive all our books are.”

Some faculty on campus said they’ve always been focused on helping the students and controlling prices.

“I have found that stakeholders on this campus are very sensitive to the expense of texts, and work to provide options for students, with some faculty placing a copy of the text on reserve at the library,” said Victoria Peeples, an assistant professor of human development and family studies.

Peeples added that she thought there are plenty of options for formats for students who are looking to keep costs down, including hardcovers, binder-ready and e-books.

“In addition, there is a new campus initiative to offer textbooks through a rental program,” Peeples said. “I have even heard of publishers exploring options for conveying course material using iPads.”

For Rachel Mitchell, a junior majoring in chemical and biological engineering, current options on campus are insufficient.

“Prices in general are extremely high,” said Mitchell. “However, the prices online are much cheaper than the prices of the SUPe store.”

Mitchell also said she did not think the HEOA would have much of a long-term impact.

“I’m not sure how it will affect the textbooks professors choose, but I can’t see how it will help students much, at least not at UA, since pricing information is already online,” Mitchell said.

Bruce Barrett, an associate professor of statistics at the University, agreed with Mitchell.

“I don’t think it’s going to make any difference,” said Barrett in reference to the HEOA’s requirements. “I think the free market can make it work.”

Barrett, unlike Peeples, said that new editions do not always contain valuable new information, at least for hard sciences and math.

“For most introductory level courses, the basics of the discipline just don’t change that quickly,” Barrett said.

He added that faculty recognize the burden students face, but typically do not have many options for their classes.

“In general, faculty are aware that at the introductory level you may have a large number of competing texts,” said Barrett. “But for upper level division courses, they’re probably more concerned with how the text aligns with the course objectives.”

Despite claims that the information would not change prices, Whitney Durham said she thinks the information is still needed.

“They better use the access to this info,” Durham said. “There is no reason they shouldn’t.”

Publishers must provide: edition changes, price for bundled versions, and most recent three copyright years

A federal law requiring college textbook publishers to provide details to faculty about textbook and textbook-bundle prices and descriptions of content changes takes effect today.

A provision of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, the law was originally proposed as the College Textbook Affordability Act on March 20, 2007, by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., as a way to help college students manage the rising cost of textbooks. It requires textbook publishers “to include the price of textbooks and supplemental material when providing information to faculty, as well as a history of revisions,” according to Durbin’s originally proposed law. Publishers are also required to offer bundled versions of textbooks in an unbundled form.

Nsé Ufot, the government relations officer with the American Association of University Professors’ research department, said the major provisions of the law impose limitations on publishers and doubts whether it will lower the cost of textbooks.

“The AAUP is all for reducing the cost [of college], and with tuition going up, the last thing that students need is to pay higher prices for textbooks,” Ufot said.

Ufot, however, said she does not believe the unbundled texts will be cheaper for students because each text will be bought individually at separate prices, which offsets any initial savings.

According to a 2005 U.S. Government Accountability Office report to Congress, the price of college textbooks increased by 6 percent each year from 1986 to 2004, and prices nearly tripled over those years. The prices increased 240 percent while inflation rose 72 percent. Students spent $6 billion for new and used textbooks in 2004 nationwide. At four-year public universities, full-time students spent $898 on textbooks on average during the combined fall and spring semesters.

The report partially attributed the rise of prices to the bundling of textbooks with supplemental materials. According to the Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics, the average amount that students spent on textbooks and supplies at UT was $800 in 2006-2007; $800 in 2007-2008; $818 in 2008-2009; and $860 in 2009-2010.

Student Monitor LLC, an independent consumer-research group that specializes in college student research, reported that students spent $659 on textbooks in 2009, down 7 percent from 2008 and less than the average amount spent in 2005. The data shows that the average amount students spent on textbooks is far lower than the rate of inflation, as students spent $613 in 2001-2002 and $644 in 2005-2006.

Websites such as cengagebrain.com and coursesmart.com allow customers to choose different packages, such as digital e-chapters, e-books, rentals and printed books.

J. Bruce Hildebrand, executive director of Higher Education for the Association of American Publishers, said the percentage of money college students spend on textbooks is small compared to tuition and room and board. Hildebrand said the AAP supported the legislation.

Integrative biology professor David Hillis said publishing companies already supply all the information that the law now requires them to supply.

“I can’t see this law having any effect whatsoever in driving down textbook prices in the sciences,” Hillis said. “If anything, it will increase the burden — and thus the costs — to publishers, which will drive textbook prices higher. Faculty and publishers are already doing everything they can to reduce textbook prices.”

So begins rapper Mos Def’s classic track “Mathematics.” How unintentionally appropriate.

As a student at the University of Iowa, I can personally attest to the outrageous mathematics behind purchasing the required textbooks for my schooling. This summer, I’m taking Principles of Chemistry I. For the five materials required for this single course, I shelled out more than $300. This is in addition to the $1,200 cost for the actual class.

Luckily, I’m not alone in my righteous indignation. A number of other, far more powerful people have reached the same conclusion about this ridiculous equation independent of my eager advice: Starting July 1, the U.S. government will have the backs of broke college students everywhere. And it’s about time.

When the reauthorization of the Higher Education Opportunity Act takes effect in five days, textbook publishers will be required to provide postsecondary faculty with detailed information regarding the price of textbooks, copyright dates of earlier editions, what the changes between those editions are, and more.

Vincent Sampson, the deputy assistant secretary for policy, planning, and innovation in the Office of Postsecondary Education (what a title), said the education act will enable professors to use books that provide more or less current information at fair prices.

It’s worth noting, however, that there won’t be any statues limiting prices. The latest edition will still cost lots and lots of money. It’s going to be on professors to take a moment and review the differences between latest edition (X) and almost-latest edition (X minus one) and then decide if those differences merit requiring their students to shell out gobs of money.

And here’s to hoping they decide it’s not worth it, because what are my options for recouping my $300-plus investment in my chemistry materials? Sell back the books? I could probably get about $100 back for my main chemistry textbook. But the lab manual or course packet, which cost me almost $50? Can’t resell those. So I get $100 back, and that’s not bad. But, here’s the thing.

Classes are being taught in such a way that students simply don’t remember the material after a few semesters (let alone years). So, while I’m certainly learning a lot about chemistry (Did you know that the formula for chromate is CrO4, and the formula for dichromate is Cr2O7? Neither did I.) I’m probably not going to remember everything I need to know in a few years. And I don’t know about you, but rather than trust my notes, I’d prefer to be able to go back and check vital information at the source.

This is awfully difficult to do if I sold my textbook back just so I could afford rent over the summer. (I feel like it should tell you something about the price of these books if selling them back nets you a month’s worth of rent …) Thus, I am faced with the prospect of paying, and not recouping, the full price of some awfully expensive textbooks.

So, and I never thought I’d say this, but thank you, President Bush. (He signed the education act into law in August 2008.) The aforementioned laundry list of revisions will be a great first step toward bringing the celestial prices of next year’s textbooks back to earth. At the end of the day, however, it’s still on professors to execute a final analysis of cost and benefit; they’ll just be much better informed.

Course packet? $10. Safety goggles? $15. Lab manual? $30. Course review book? $70. Actual text book? A ridiculous $220. Federal legislation that will actually keep that sum less than next month’s rent? Priceless. Definitely priceless.

“If students buy a book between now and the end of July, they can mail in a form and get a free book mailed back to them,” said Margaret Hendricks, general book manager at the Auburn U. Bookstore.

The forms are available inside the AU Bookstore, and the books must be written by a member of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance.

These include many different types of general books, but textbooks are not included.

“All of the members of the alliance are bookstores and booksellers, and the AU Bookstore is actually a part of that alliance which ranges from Arkansas to the Carolinas, and as far down as Florida,” Hendricks said. “The closest people can get to picking their own book is by filling out a place on the form which tells what genre you’re interested in.”

Wanda Jewell is the executive director of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, SIBA as she calls it, and the books given away as a part of the free book stimulus plan will be coming out of her personal library.

“One of the benefits of this business is that people are always sending me their books; to read them, review them, whatever,” Jewell said. “I get books in the mail every day, and I’ve been working here for 20 years.”

Jewell has been doing this project for over a year now. “In the past I’ve given them to libraries, daycares, etc.,” Jewell said. “But I just kept thinking- I wish I could find a way to use these to help my sources.”

SIBA pays for the shipping of the free books, and Jewell sees this as what she considers member benefits.

The books cost about $2.33 each to ship. Jewell claims SIBA spent about $2,000 in shipping over the past year to deliver the free books, but says it is worthwhile if it stimulates people to buy from independent bookstores.

SIBA currently has about 200 member bookstores, and Jewell said they will get more in the fall because they have a large trade show in September.

The trade show moves to a different southern city every year. This year the show will be held in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Jewell said hundreds of booksellers, hundreds of publishers and hundreds of authors will attend the show.

Jewell wants the free book stimulus plan to look better for each independent bookstore participating than it does for the alliance.

“I want people to think, ‘Hey, if I go to Book Depot and buy a book, I can mail something in and get one for free,’” Jewell said.

Stephanie Martucci, senior in RTVF said she has not heard of this yet, but would be interested in participating.

Martucci said the types of advertising that would catch her eye would be e-mails, fliers around campus or ads on Facebook.

”I would definitely be interested in receiving free cookbooks and fitness books,” Martucci said.

A national law, effective July 1, will seek to lower the cost of textbooks for college students. But without many professors aware of the new regulations, it seems that relief may be delayed.

U. Iowa student Bill Ganske, who spent between $400 and $500 last semester, said he would appreciate any help alleviating the financial burden.

“It would be nice to have cheaper textbooks, especially if they’re available online or in any computer form that would make it cheaper,” he said.

A section added in 2008 to the national Higher Education Opportunity Act requires textbook publishers to be more transparent in supplying professors with the prices and formats, including digital versions, of all available textbooks.

Book publishers will be required to disclose the price of the text they are supplying, the copyright dates of previous editions, and any significant changes that have been made to the text since the last previous edition.

Also mandated is the “unbundling” of textbooks, requiring that any supplemental text sold with another book be made available for separate purchase.

At present, professors can request the price of a textbook, but companies are not required to disclose that information.

The UI lists a rough cost of $1,090 of books and supplies for the fall semester.

While the new provisions go into effect in roughly a week, some professors said they weren’t aware of the details in the new law or how it may affect their choices for texts.

UI psychology Professor Michael O’Hara said the new law may not change much in his department, because it tends to follow a specific text as each new edition is released.

“We tend to select books based upon content and what will best fit students’ education needs,” he said.

Engineering Professor David Andersen agreed: “We always work hard to get the cheapest and best textbooks for our students.”

Neither of the professors were fully aware of the changes, a pitfall local book stores employees said they’re noticing.

The new law presses professors to adhere to more strict deadlines to state required texts for each class, allowing more time for local stores to acquire them.

Many professors do not follow deadlines for placing orders with a bookstore, often making it difficult to receive a text by the start of classes, said Ellen Thomas, a manager at the University Bookstore.

“Orders have only recently started [for the fall semester], and in some cases, professors do not turn in textbook orders until after the semester begins,” she said.

In addition, when bookstores know in advance what texts a class plans to use, they are able to increase the buyback value for students selling the used versions of the book, said Pete Vanderhoef, a manager at Iowa Book.

And UI students said some relief on textbook pricing is desperately needed.

“It’ll be nice [for professors] to have that information, knowing where the cheapest books are,” said UI student Kevin Tempel.

The new HEOA Textbook Provision, effective July 1, requires college textbook publishers to provide professors and faculty selecting course materials written information regarding textbook prices, copyright dates and descriptions of edition changes.

Textbook Provision requires schools receiving federal financial assistance provide prices of textbooks used in each course with course schedules during registration.

“I think this is an attempt to provide more transparency about pricing and availability for students,” said Rhonda Winchell, marketing manager for University Press.

The provision mandates college textbook publishers provide the following items:  the price publishers charge campus bookstores, the price publishers charge the public, the copyright dates of the three previous editions, a description of changes made between current and previous edition and whether the college textbook or supplemental material is available in another format and the price of that format.

Publishers packaging textbook materials in a bundle will have to provide each item in the bundle separately, as well.

The law requires schools provide information for renting textbooks, purchasing used textbooks and other “cost-saving strategies.”

Winchell said publishers will have a little more work to do, but she’s confused about how the law will be monitored.

“The question I have and that’s one thing we’ll (U. Nebraska Press) have to take up is who are we responsible for giving this information to and in what format,” she said.

The U. Nebraska Press already provides a catalog with information on books and prices to interested professors, but Winchell said they might have to include the required information every time they send information about textbooks to professors.

The law requires the director of the Government Accountability Office report to the authorizing committees on the progress of this law no later than July 1, 2013.

A brief survey of about five professors revealed that professors are not yet familiar with the new textbook provision yet.

Some said they scope out textbook prices online and other professors said they advise students to shop for textbooks online. Online shopping for textbooks is ideal for nonscientific or mathematical textbooks.

“I don’t know if it’s going to make a huge difference,” said Thomas Zorn, professor of finance, about knowing textbook prices.

Zorn said he’s more concerned with the content of the textbooks and in his field, the textbooks constantly change.

Knowing how the editions changed would be helpful to professors, Winchell said. Professors will know whether to require the new edition or not she said.

As for how the law will affect the publishing business, Winchell said, not much.

“It’s just more information.”

Among these requirements, the federal law also mandates publishers provide descriptions of changes between previous and current editions. This means professors will know how different the recent edition is from the last edition. Hopefully, it will aid professors in their decision not to require students purchase unnecessary new editions.

The textbook provision is helpful and the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board is in support of it, but the law will not fix the market. The textbook market is like no other. In a regular market, consumers affect pricing because they have choice and can choose the better and more affordable products. In the textbook market, professors have the choice, based upon information publishers provide.

To top it off, professors have a limited number of publishers to choose from, which leads to less competitive pricing. In the textbook market, students always need textbooks and they’re obligated to purchase the books their professors require for class. Publishers are not the only ones aware of this; bookstore retailers like Follett use this predicament to their advantage, too.

The DN encourages students to contact the Student Public Interest Research Groups that aid in consumer protection. Since 2003, Student PIRGs have exercised a “Make Textbooks Affordable” campaign, which helped bring the textbook law into play. Student PIRGs establish rental programs, help pass laws and promote “open textbooks,” which are free textbooks online.

Higher education is expensive enough already. Students do not need money-grabbing corporations taking their money, too. The Daily Nebraskan will be using the opportunities for research afforded by the new textbook law to the fullest. Expect the DN to follow up on textbook sales and investigate other items in the textbook provision in the weeks and months ahead.