Rain is falling, leaves are changing colors, and the excitement and anticipation of a new school year is buzzing in the air. And that can only mean one thing: It’s time for the dreaded-but-necessary textbook shopping.
Textbooks cost a lot of money and a lot of trees to publish.
According to Earth911.com, an environmental website, during the course of obtaining a four-year college degree, a student is likely to use about six trees’ worth of textbooks.
College students can save money and the environment by being sustainable consumers and evaluating their options when purchasing textbooks.
Rentals
Students don’t have to pay high prices for textbooks anymore.
The Duck Store is partnering with BookRenter.com to offer more affordable textbook rentals for students.
According to its website, BookRenter.com is a textbook-rental website that offers fast, free shipping and 75 percent savings.
“A large majority of books used at the University are available on there,” said Bruce Lundy, book division team leader at the Duck Store.
According to BookRenter.com, founder Colin Barceloux came up with the idea for the website when he “realized that the practice of buying a book, using it, and selling it is really just a textbook rental.”
Students who are interested in renting their textbooks can visit BookRenter.com, search for a book with its ISBN, select the rental period (90 days for a school term), and pay the rental fee.
The website also lists instructions for returning rented textbooks. BookRenter.com will accept textbooks that have been highlighted in or written on.
Students can also visit the Duck Store’s book department on the upper level and talk to someone at the
Information desk.
The astronomy textbook “Pathways to Astronomy” published by McGraw-Hill, is required for Astronomy 121, a popular science course for many science majors and non-science majors alike.
The book is on sale at the Duck Store for $86.25 used and $115 new, while the same book is offered for a 90-day rental period at BookRenter.com for just $46.80.
The Duck Store’s new partnership with BookRenter.com provides more choices for students.
“We’re happy we’re able to offer more options,” Lundy said.
He advises students to compare prices and be informed consumers before deciding whether or not to purchase or rent textbooks.
Used books
University students can also purchase used books at Smith Family Bookstore at its campus or downtown location.
Smith Family has more than 400,000 textbooks at the campus location, and 30 percent of those are used.
Its textbooks cover topics like history, ethnic studies, religious studies, geography and literature, according to its website.
Used books are sustainable because they are being circulated through different bookstores and used by different students throughout the campus community.
Electronic books
Available only online, these virtual textbooks save paper and therefore, dozens of trees. But they can cost big bucks.
The website CafeScribe.com sells electronic books, and eBooks are available for purchase at the Duck Store.
The eBook for “Pathways to Astronomy” costs $80.50. eBooks cannot be returned to the Duck Store once the title is activated and cannot be sold back to the store at the end of the term.
Book buyback
When students sell back their books, whether through a bookstore or a website, they combat the issue of textbooks being unnecessarily thrown away or discarded.
Holding onto textbooks when a course is finished wastes money and time if students transport books when moving or put books into
storage with other items.
It is important to sell back a textbook at the end of a course unless the student will use the book in the future for
other courses.
“Students have a short window to sell (a book),” said Evon Smith, one of the owners of Smith Family Bookstore. “The longer you wait to sell it, the less money you’ll get for it.”
Many textbook publishers update and release new editions of textbooks every year.
“The biggest issue with textbooks is how quickly new editions are coming out,”
Smith said.
If a publisher has released a new version of a textbook, students have several options. They can try selling their book on several websites, including ULoop, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Craigslist, and at bookstores such as Smith Family.
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