Students wary of paying for yet another semester of books now have a new online alternative: campusbookswap.com has come to Oberlin.
The electronic book bazaar offers students the ability to buy, sell and haggle over course texts. Registration is free, and all that is required for access is an Email address and password. Books may either be put up for sale or purchased from dozens of titles.
Perhaps you are interested in getting your hands on the latest edition of the Leviathan? On a recent visit, the book was listed at five dollars. Or maybe The Manual of Vascular Plants is more your passion. Right now, the hardcover book, which according to the seller is in ‘great condition’, is going for twenty five bucks.
These prices are hardly absolute, for bargaining and swapping is par for the course. Regardless of the means employed, the true innovation of the site, as opposed to other online book-selling services, is that that the student actually has a great degree of control over the price of his or her books.
Campusbookswap.com is the fruit of a student PIRG initiative, and Oberlin, along with Trinity College and the University of Wisconsin, was selected as an experimental subject for the pilot project. (PIRG’s role is limited to promoting the service, and excludes partaking in any profits that might occur as a result of transactions between students.)
According to Mike McComb, PIRG member and book swap coordinator, the overall concept of the site is to make "book selling easier for students who might not have had time to post ads around campus, as well as students who might not notice posted ads in the first place." McComb added that the principal goal of the project is "to make textbooks more affordable to more people."
A recent informal survey outside of The Bookstore suggests that students might sympathize with these aims. "It’s unfair that books cost so much, and to have to pay all that money right at the beginning of school!" first-year Alexa Ramirez exclaimed.
First-year Mason McCamey concurred, lamenting that the price of books is "much more than I thought they would be, but I guess that’s the consensus around here."
Others have resorted to what some would consider more devious methods, such as forgoing book-buying altogether.
"I’m changing my philosophy," senior Pat Hayes said. "From now on, I’m not buying books at all, but instead ‘buying’ them from The Bookstore and returning them by the 17th of February, just about the time I will have received these same books through Ohiolink."
For those still needing to buy their books for classes, campusbookswap.com could be a fine option. Although the number of books available for purchase is still relatively small, this could change with increased campus awareness.
Depending on the site’s success, the service could come to be seen in the future as a viable alternative for buying and selling books here at Oberlin.
"Ultimately, it will probably take two or three semesters to effectiveness of the site," McComb stated. In the meantime, "the initial reaction from campus has been so positive, which is a good indication that the book swap might be around for a long time."