2008 Woodie Awards
Buying and selling books: bargain or bother?
Kat Benton
Issue date: 2/29/08 Section: Opinion
How many times have you bought a book for a class, then tried to sell it back, only to find that there is a new edition and the book is now worth nothing?How much money did you spend on a book that you ended up finding cheaper online?
In a recent survey conducted of 200 KWU students at random, an interestingstatistic was uncovered. Not only do 9 out of 10 students find the prices of books and supplies at Founders' Bookstore dissatisfying, but just over 70 percent have considered buying textbooks elsewhere and 85 percent already do or have used another's.
"College students don't have money in the first place, and I think it's unethical to sell them for such a high price," said a frustrated full-time public relations student who previously ran her own small business buying and selling books.
Although admirable, starting your own book selling business may not be the answer. Neither is the idea to copy the pages of chapters and return your books. The Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials law allows for 10 percent of any published works to be used for personal use; only part of a chapter, part of a unit, or part of a book, but never the whole work without the publisher's/ author's written permission.
The infringement may cost you and your university upwards of $150,000 for each separate, knowing offense. However, there is a special provision called the Good Faith Fair Use Defense [17 USC 504(c)(2)] that applies if the user reasonably believed that what he/she did was in fair use. (Information courtesy
of the U.S. Copyright Office website).
So what does this mean to you?
Within the same survey conducted,
over 177 students said they would participate in a campus-wide book exchange if it were to be held.
One resident assistant, who presented
the idea to the student life office and fellow RA's, has answered the cry for cheaper
books.
"Too manystudents have books that the bookstore won't buy back because they are either discontinued or teachers don't use them anymore. We should not have to pay full price or shipping and handling when we can just go to someone on campus who already has
the book," said sophomore Kirsten
Tobey.
President-approved, a schoolwide chart with student names, numbers, and textbooks will be available in the Student Life Office come August.
This will allow for students to buy and sell books at cheaper prices than would be available elsewhere, and make a profit for both sides of the deal.
KWU students have already found several loopholes around the system by purchasing textbooks elsewhere, and here are some of the
latest and greatest online discoveries
for cheaper textbooks for the pennypinching
student.
Popular websites include:
Alibris.com
Amazon.com,
Campusbooks.com
Ebay.com
Half.com
phatcampus.com
In a recent survey conducted of 200 KWU students at random, an interestingstatistic was uncovered. Not only do 9 out of 10 students find the prices of books and supplies at Founders' Bookstore dissatisfying, but just over 70 percent have considered buying textbooks elsewhere and 85 percent already do or have used another's.
"College students don't have money in the first place, and I think it's unethical to sell them for such a high price," said a frustrated full-time public relations student who previously ran her own small business buying and selling books.
Although admirable, starting your own book selling business may not be the answer. Neither is the idea to copy the pages of chapters and return your books. The Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials law allows for 10 percent of any published works to be used for personal use; only part of a chapter, part of a unit, or part of a book, but never the whole work without the publisher's/ author's written permission.
The infringement may cost you and your university upwards of $150,000 for each separate, knowing offense. However, there is a special provision called the Good Faith Fair Use Defense [17 USC 504(c)(2)] that applies if the user reasonably believed that what he/she did was in fair use. (Information courtesy
of the U.S. Copyright Office website).
So what does this mean to you?
Within the same survey conducted,
over 177 students said they would participate in a campus-wide book exchange if it were to be held.
One resident assistant, who presented
the idea to the student life office and fellow RA's, has answered the cry for cheaper
books.
"Too manystudents have books that the bookstore won't buy back because they are either discontinued or teachers don't use them anymore. We should not have to pay full price or shipping and handling when we can just go to someone on campus who already has
the book," said sophomore Kirsten
Tobey.
President-approved, a schoolwide chart with student names, numbers, and textbooks will be available in the Student Life Office come August.
This will allow for students to buy and sell books at cheaper prices than would be available elsewhere, and make a profit for both sides of the deal.
KWU students have already found several loopholes around the system by purchasing textbooks elsewhere, and here are some of the
latest and greatest online discoveries
for cheaper textbooks for the pennypinching
student.
Popular websites include:
Alibris.com
Amazon.com,
Campusbooks.com
Ebay.com
Half.com
phatcampus.com
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