How not to buy textbooks and still have access to them November 12, 2009
Posted by Eugene Aronsky in : books, bookstores, cheap textbooks, college bookstores, free books, free textbooks, textbooks, vjeap books , 2commentsEvery college student hopes to have professors that will choose either free or at least cheap textbooks. Unfortunately those are rare, and many professors simply do not care that the book that they are selecting for the class will cost $200, while in other cases they simply do not have a choice since that may be the only good book on the subject. We already discussed some of the mechanics of textbook pricing and college bookstores. Today I give you a few tricks on how to get cheap textbooks. Some of these tricks are well known, and often used, others are only known to a few, and this fact will enable you to take full advantage of these tricks.
In regards to cheap textbooks many of the tricks have already been covered in previous blog posts, that is: used textbooks, older editions, etc. The trick I want to discuss with you today is how to find ways to avoid buying books altogether, while still having access to the contents of the books. The classic solution to this problem is simple: find a friend in the same class and share the textbook. Unfortunately this is not always possible, and when it is the friend may want you to help pay for part of the book, something completely understandable and a much better deal than having to pay the full price.
Another idea to keep in mind is that school libraries, or department libraries, typically keep copies of every textbook in reserve (this means that you cannot take them out of the building). This means that if you do not mind doing all of your studying at the library, than you do not need to buy the textbook. The downside to this is that you cannot take notes in the book, but you can always make copies of pages, and depending on the subject that may be good enough.
Another much less known trick is that most university libraries in the United States participate in some type of EZ borrow program. This means that they share books with other university libraries and are able to request books from other schools. This is great because you can request your textbooks from another university library, sign them out and bring them home. Depending on your library’s load duration, you will probably have to renew them mid semester, but that is not a problem. You will still not be able to take notes in the book (and out of respect for other students, please abstain from doing so), but at least this way you can read the book in the comfort of your home. This is a little known scheme, but trust me it works great! I had a good friend who went all through graduate school never having to purchase a single textbook.
This last trick applies to all of you out there who took humanities majors, or who are being forced to take litterature, philosophy or history classes. Many of your books, particularly novels are available in the public domain online: all you have to do is search for the name of the book and add “ull text” and if you are lucky it will be right there.
Well I hope that this blog post has given you some ideas as to how to avoid buying books, stay tuned for other postings where I will give you even more ideas on this and other book related issues. If you have tricks or ideas you would like to share, please leave a comment.
The down and dirty on textbook publishers November 11, 2009
Posted by Eugene Aronsky in : book publishing, bookstores, college bookstores, publishing industry, textbook publishers, textbooks, used books , add a commentThe way that the publishing business works has changed much since the early days of the Internet. The way that it used to work was that textbooks were more affordable, and since the used book market was very private, publishers were content with their profit margin. It is important to note here that publishers profit only from the sale of a new book; when a used book is sold and resold the original publisher of the book does not see a cent of the money generated. In the case where a bookstore sells used books, the bookstore gets the profit from the sale of the used book but has to buy it from someone. In the case of college bookstores, they have a constant supply of books since every year students graduate and want to get rid of their textbooks. On the other hand, whenever you purchase a book from certain sites online, the profit from the sale goes to the person selling the book, most likely another student.
As the used textbooks market developed with the rise of the Internet, and students were finally able to take control of the used book market by being able to sell their books online, publishers realized that fewer people were buying new textbooks. The solution that publishers devised was to put out a greater number of new editions or to put out new editions more often. It is important to note that many changing or rapidly evolving subjects such as computer science or biology require a new edition to be released yearly because the field changes constantly, but many other subjects such as literature, philosophy, and even business, in other words subjects that are not in a state of great flux and do not change rapidly do not require frequent edition updates. I can recall an ancient history class I took as a sophomore where the textbook that was available at the bookstore was the latest edition, and cost $80. Since I was fairly confident that ancient Greek history had not seen any major changes in the past few years I purchased an older edition online, saving $60 in the process, and had no problem keeping up the pace with other students of the class.
What many publishers do these days is that they put out a new edition regardless of whether or not any changes were actually made to the content of the book. If no changes were made than what they do is they will move around chapters, or maybe change a few chapter titles. The other strategy that publishers have developed is to include a CD or DVD with the textbook. This is seen as increasing the value of the book; however what they fail to tell you is that most, if not all, of the information on the CD/DVD is available on the publisher’s website for free, plus I have yet to meet a teacher who puts these CDs to good use.
The advice that I would offer students is to buy used and buy old editions whenever possible, and if you want to shop online I recommend you use a book price comparison website, in order to make sure that the price you are getting is the best one. In general, you should not stray further than 2 editions prior to the current one. If you are unsure as to an older edition of a textbook, I would advise that you consult with your professor, many are starting to come to the realization that books are putting a real economic strain on students and are starting to care, so they may be able to help.
Textbook advice for new students November 11, 2009
Posted by Eugene Aronsky in : textbooks , add a commentThe best piece of advice on books that I can offer new students going to college for the first time is, do not buy all of your textbooks at the college bookstore! If you order your books online on the same day that you receive your syllabus, you will typically receive your books before your first assignment. You can even choose to pay for overnight shipping, this is a bit more costly, but usually still cheaper than buying at the bookstore. If you are worried about receiving your books late, you can always try to contact your professors a week before the start of class and ask about the list of book(s) you will need. Most importantly, you should always shop around, and using a book price comparison site such as We Compare Books when shopping around makes it much more easier.
If you are forced to buy books at the bookstore, buy used. In fact, given the option, you should always choose used instead of new when it comes to textbooks. This has multiple advantages, for one you have the obvious price advantage, for another, often the previous owner of the book underlined or highlighted the important sections, and this means that skimming becomes easier (this is of course if you trust that the previous owner of the book was smart enough to have underlined the correct passages).
The best way to buy books is directly from previous students. This ensures that you pay less for your books and also that the students selling their books receive more money for them. Remember that the less intermediaries there are, the less money you spend and the more money goes in the pocket of the seller.
Finding Books at Discount Prices: A professors Guide October 3, 2009
Posted by admin in : college advice, e-books, new books, textbooks, used books , 2commentsI have a pretty good relationship with many of my former professors, and sometimes I ask them to contribute their thoughts to some of the issues that students face.
Here is a blog post written by a former professor of mine, I hope that you find this useful.
Professor Colette Mazzucelli, Department of Political Science, Hofstra University and Center for Global Affairs, New York University
The more we teach, the more we learn about… discovering ways to save money for our students as book prices increase. Examples from my courses this semester are helpful illustrations. The comparative politics coursefor the Hofstra undergraduates, features three texts, which Norton sells as a package. The e-Book option is one the company’s sales representative helped me to identify as much less expensive for students. This package features efficient access to content on personal laptops in class as well as ease in note taking and markup right in the e-Book margins. Students who prefer to purchase the print copies of the different texts are encouraged to buy the much cheaper second editions even though new third editions just appeared in print. For those eager to compare, the new third editions are now placed on reserve as well in Hofstra’s Library. The Facebook reference to We Compare Books is available for undergraduates in my different class sections as they shop for cheap textbooks in various courses. Bookstores may prefer that students purchase individual textbooks, instead of packages, because these texts can be resold when the same classes are offered in subsequent years. In the immediate term, however, buying texts in packages or in bulk, as the next example illustrates, offers genuine savings for students. At New York University, my international relations syllabus for those graduates new to the M.S. Program in Global Affairs features extensive reading. This is a foundation course, which should also offer students ideas to develop research interests as the program of studies progresses to the thesis requirement. In this fall’s learning community, one of the members works for Pearson and offered to sell the others one of the required volumes for purchase at a discount price. Another option to keep costs low is to require texts for purchase that are available in paperback edition. In courses with such a wide selection of readings, the effective and efficient option in terms of savings and organization is to assign a minimum number of texts for purchase, let’s say five, all available in paperback. The rest of the readings are posted on the Blackboard learning system as PDF files for students to access from their home computers each week. The international relations syllabus also integrates progressively the wealth of public education materials available free of charge online, including multimedia resources and written transcripts. In these ways, the course retains breadth and depth in the readings, excessive trips to the Library Reserve Desk are unnecessary, and students do not spend as much for required course purchases. The future holds the promise of additional savings as many books are made available on the public commons by universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In this era of ever-rising tuition rates for higher education, every option to save counts during college years. Students should be able to afford the books for the courses they pay a substantial tuition to attend. This adds to the teacher’s responsibilities in course design to continue to identify savings options without sacrificing quality in higher education.
textbooks for a few Masters’ of Public Administration courses at Seton Hall University August 24, 2009
Posted by admin in : Seton Hall MPA textbooks, new books, textbooks, used books , add a commentFiguring out which textbooks are required for class is often an arduous and tedious task, but this is still the best strategy to get your textbooks cheap, b/c if you wait to buy your books until the first day of class the cheapest ones will likely already be sold out and you may have to buy them at the bookstore at bookstore prices.
There are a number of ways to go about finding out what books are required, you can talk to a friend who took the course last semester, or try to see if the bookstore has the information… but the best way still remains, asking the professor. Given this difficult task, I decided to simplify a small part of this process by talking to one of my professors and having him give me his required textbooks for his courses. Here is the list of books that are required for a few of the masters’ in Public Administration courses at Seton Hall University; these are all of the courses taught by Professor Paul Cavanagh this semester.
PSMA6005NA
Management Control In Nonprofit Organizations
Book ISBN: 0072508256
Balanced Scorecard: Step-by-Step for Government and Nonprofit Agencies
Book ISBN: 9780470180020
PSMA7321NA
Foundation Fundamentals
Book ISBN: 1595420061
Grant Management: Funding for Public and Nonprofit Programs
Book ISBN: 9780763755270
PSMA6004SA
Economics of Social Issues
Book ISBN: 9780073402802
Annual Editions: Economics, 35/e
Book ISBN: 9780073528564