Copyrights fuel high book costs

Students' pockets and purses will feel a little lighter this week. \nAs the prices of textbooks and course packets continue to outstrip paychecks, some students are growing frustrated.\n"My biggest problem with paying so much for a text is that you shell out an amount of money that is disproportionate to the amount of use that you get," said senior Joseph Rossow. "I had a class two semesters ago where I bought a book for $60 that I never read."\nCourse packets in particular have raised concern. Junior Megan Johnson said she paid $130 for a course packet in her journalism class.\n"I thought it was pretty ridiculous, seeing as how we can't sell it back at the end of the semester," Johnson said. "A lot (of the material) could have been (photo)copied and given to us at a later date."\nPenniless students can thank the rising cost of reproducing copyrighted material for the varying, and often expensive, price of their course packets, said Paul Hazel, director of the IU Bookstore. \n"There's absolutely no standard that says (one) publisher has the same amount of copyrighted material as (another) publisher," Hazel said.\nHowever, course packets may be preferable to the alternative. The price of hard-bound textbooks has risen in recent years due to the increased production cost of color pictures and accompanying compact disks, Hazel said.\n"The positive thing about a (course packet) is a professor can choose articles from a number of different textbooks so the student doesn't have to go to a library or buy these books," said Hazel. "I think the whole point of a professor using them is to save students' money."\nBesides cost, course packets have academic advantages as well. Journalism professor Radhika Parameswaran said course packets help her keep her material on-pace with current events, when the ponderous publishing cycle of textbooks fails to do so.\n"I sometimes find texts can take a very monotonous and not challenging tone for students and myself," Parameswaran said. "I think it's actually good for a student to have diversity in tone, style, approach, because that's the world. The world is diverse."\nWhile both textbooks and course packets have advantages, they will continue to strain student budgets. \nParameswaran said she will soon look into posting some of her material online to ease her students' financial burden. However, she worries the owners of copyrighted material may complain.\n-- Contact staff writer Mike McElroy at mmcelroy@indiana.edu.