The Daily Campus

Issue date: 1/25/08 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Nick Hart Students shop for books at the UConn Co-op, despite a rising movement to buy books online.

During the end of each semester, after all the final exams, most students are giving a collective sigh of relief. Ready for a break, the thought that usually does not pop into a student's head is: I should get onto book buying for the upcoming semester.

While buying textbooks at the one-stop shop that is the UConn Co-op can be convenient, hunting down textbooks on textbook Web sites to find a reasonably priced textbook can not only save your hard earned money for now, but also make you feel like a smart, thrifty shopper.

"On average, American students spend $900 per year on textbooks," said Jeffrey Czerwiec, Campus Organizer of UConnPIRG, which has led a variety of campaigns to try to get textbook prices lowered. "Prices are so high because many textbook companies don't disclose the prices of their books to professors. So professors order these books and unless it's brought to their attention, there's no way to find out how much they cost."

Although there are many reasons that factor into students not buying textbooks sooner, sometimes the reason why students wait is because of the inconvenient note that pops up on the textbooks section of bookstore.uconn.edu: "We are currently busy stocking our shelves for the semester and will have textbooks available for purchase at all of our locations at the start of the semester. Unfortunately, the UConn Co-op's Textbooks-To-Go online ordering system is not currently available. Please check back for further updates prior to the beginning of the semester."

When looking for the best-priced textbooks online, the most important information is generally not is the title or author of the textbook, but the book's ISBN number. ISBN numbers are unique catalogue numbers, usually 10 to 13 numbers long, that identify a particular item and can be found on a textbook's back cover on the bottom right hand corner, or in one of the first pages of the book. Having an ISBN number ensures that you are looking for the correct edition as well as the correct author and title of the textbook you are searching for.

Web sites that compare the best prices of new and used textbooks, such as, Bigwords.com, ugenie.com, and Collegeswapshop.com can be major time savers. They will not only show the cheapest price out of top textbook-selling Web sites, but the condition of the book, the state that the seller is shipping it from and the shipping and handling price. Some Web sites, such as textbooks.com and textbooksnow.com even have free shipping and handling for most orders over $25.

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