Presumably students have been complaining about the high cost of textbooks as long as they've been required to buy them. But there is mounting evidence that textbook prices really are higher now than they've ever been, as publishers put out new editions with minor changes and useless bundled content (such as CD-ROMs) just so they can raise the price. To help students learn about alternatives to buying brand new textbooks at list price, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries have prepared this pamphlet, describing ways that students can get their textbooks cheaper (or even possibly avoid buying them altogether).
It's good to see the library of a major public university acknowledging this crisis for students so openly and providing information and choices. It's not that I think textbook publishers and authors shouldn't profit from their efforts. But I think there are some troubling ethical issues in maximizing profits at the expense of students, who are already having enough trouble paying for their educations. It should be possible to balance the need of publishers to make a profit with the need of students to afford higher education.
Posted by Stacie at March 22, 2005 07:33 PMIt's true, the cost of textbooks is getting out of control. But I have a bit a sympathy for the publishers. The competition is fierce, and they'll do anything they can to catch the eye of adopters with as much flash as they can pack into a text.
I've been looking for a sensible art history text to use in my class, which is a one-semester, compressed overview for non-majors. Everything out there seems to be bloated…stuffed with way more than we can possible cover. Even the "concise" editions are 500+ (some of the full editions have around 1200 pages!). And of course, they are all in full color and feature beautiful reproductions of many artworks that we won't discuss. The expense of such a package will be passed on to the student. I'm sure the idea is that comprehensive volumes can be all thing to all people, but I'd rather supplement with other sources than lug around a 10-pound book in my briefcase.
Then there's the superfluous ancillaries: our current art text is packaged with a practice exam book, a special issue of Time magazine, and, get this, another workbook that has thumbnail reproductions of artworks and some blank space off to the side in which a student can write notes (I recall using an inexpensive alternative known as a "notebook" for such activities when I was a student). And each text has the obligatory PC-friendly/Mac-iffy CD-ROM and companion website full of mildly interesting, but hardly vital, interactive elements (but, predictably, a Vivaldi Four Seasons soundtrack).
But I'm sure the publishers feel they have no choice if they're to appear competitive, attractive, and current. These texts cannot be anything but costly to create, and it seems that they are updated constantly. In days of yore, it seemed that a new edition to a text was a momentous occasion, with an update coming only after years and years of use. Now new editions seem to be released biannually. Ami sees the same thing in the sciences. And those monsters are all hardback, 1200+ pages, and retail for $120-$160.
We try to adopt books that are relatively inexpensive for students, and even then I encourage the kids to shop online for the best deal. Thanks for posting the link to the pamphlet. I will make it available to our students.
Posted by: Prof. Qwert at March 23, 2005 11:14 AMI remember having a stats prof (at another school) who, upon finding out the cost of the book on the first day of class, told us all to return them to the bookstore. He did the entire semester on handouts. He said he wanted to "send a message to the bookstore". Not sure if they got the message.
I had another prof, here at the U, who advised us to get the book online at a discount to the price charged by the U bookstore. He later mentioned that he'd been reprimanded by his superiors for giving us that advice. I wondered who ratted him out.
But sometimes, there is a book that stands the test of time. I've had some classes where the required text was 20 years out of print. Sometimes I've had several classes with different instructors where the same out of print book was required/recommended. That's a book worth buying.
Posted by: Jim at March 24, 2005 05:29 PM