Something called a library

I’m not a big fan of the first day of classes and haven’t been for several semesters. I seem to forget this fact from one semester to the next (luckily, or it would be an even bigger struggle to get out of bed), but I dread that moment when the professor passes out the syllabus.

No matter if it’s a 100-level class or a 400-level, syllabi are intimidating. The requirements, the readings, the papers, the tests — I honestly wonder how I’m going to get through them. At the end of the semester, I look back and declare that it wasn’t that bad and I could do it again, and even better, but that doesn’t help when the next semester rolls around.

By my first-day-of-classes panic, my parents have already had theirs — when I call them to tell them how much my books are.

No matter what classes I take, I usually end up spending about $500 on books every semester. If I have a class that doesn’t assign textbooks, then I’m likely to have a class where the book is around $200.

Textbooks, as every college student learns, are so expensive because publishers don’t sell nearly as many copies as they would of a regular book, and they have to offset printing costs somehow. And then, every few years (whether the book needs it or not), the author updates it a bit, adds another chapter and some cooler graphics, and suddenly you can’t even buy the slightly cheaper used books, because the professor wants the newer edition.

Not that used books are much cheaper, unless you can buy them from another student. And no matter what the condition, you’ll get crap back at the bookstores, which turn around and sell them for only slightly less that then horribly expensive price you bought them for.

So when I got my reading list for one of my London classes, I almost couldn’t breathe. Even though a lot of them were just suggested readings, there are still a ton of books. I could easily spend more on that one class than I usually do per semester.

No one else seemed to be panicking, and when I went up to the professor after class, I found out why.

The students aren’t actually going to go out and buy those books.

I was flabbergasted. Not buy the books? Not have my own copies? Not be able to highlight my readings?

Not actually needing any of that?

My professor recommended the university library where, I was relieved to learn, they have all the course books. I checked out a couple I chose, was told to have them back in a week, and sent merrily on my way. No fees (unless I turned them in late), and no need to highlight, since the class’s emphasis was on writing rather than cramming facts for tests.

Which makes the scores as follows:England: 1, IU: $20 million a semester, give or take.**Note – number based on my own experiences, not actual statistics.

Why can’t American universities adopt this policy?

No one likes our own (except maybe the printers).

No one benefits from it (again, except the printers).

And yet, no one’s doing a thing to change it.

Even with the rise of e-readers and the amount of college texts becoming available for download, the costs haven’t gone down — last I read, the books are still being priced highly, even though the printing costs are nil. Sure, there are always publishing costs that go up since textbooks generally have a more limited release than regular books, but without printers, a huge chunk of the production price is gone. Used textbooks are expensive; every bargain store is expensive. Even buying from another student — assuming the professor is keeping the same book and you know someone who took the class — is pricey.

It only makes sense to move toward this nice “there are plenty of copies at the library” system, where students expect to not have to purchase many or any of their textbooks. Sure, highlighter-lovers like me will have to change our habits, but for $1000 a year, isn’t it worth it? Shouldn’t the ridiculously high university prices be enough?

Any system has its problems. My class has around 25 students, not the 100+ in my history lectures back home. (And did I mention highlighters?) But I’d say that this system is a whole lot better than paying an exorbitant amount every single semester.

And if the books need an updated chapter every few years? Make it available for a small fee online rather than requiring a whole new book.


E-mail: hanns@indiana.edu