ASM, UW-Madison assist students with textbook costs

Textbook costs can be a burden for college students. The University of Wisconsin–Madison’s student government and university administration are working hard to address these potential difficulties on behalf of students and families.

The Associated Students of Madison (ASM) is helping students sell their used books to each other before the semester begins through the biannual Textbook Swap.

This semester, preliminary book drop-offs will be held from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 16, in Room 116 of Memorial Library. Books can be purchased from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 17.

On average, Swap prices are 35 percent less than local bookstores. Students should be sure to bring their book list (including ISBN numbers) when they are ready to purchase. Students who dropped off books can pick up their money or unsold books from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 18.

It is estimated that last year’s sale saved students more than $23,000.

In addition to the Swap as a way to lower costs, the university continues to explore middle- and longer-term solutions for students, says Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning Aaron Brower, the point person for textbook costs.

The most exciting and challenging initiative is to play a role in developing “the textbook of the future,” which would incorporate emerging e-reader technology with course content that would use multimedia and online resources to assist the learning process.

After an initial trial with Amazon’s Kindle, Brower and University Libraries director Ken Frazier are now actively looking for faculty partners who want to adapt course content for the project.

“Kindle isn’t quite there, but e-readers are only going to become better as a vehicle for these textbooks of the future,” says Brower. “Ken and I want to help this along.”

In the immediate future, Brower reminds students that Libraries have free reserve copies of texts for the most popular courses (http://www.library.wisc.edu/reserves/textbooks.html).

In addition, detailed book information to facilitate online shopping is available via Course Guide. The idea is that students can frequently receive the best deals by shopping around on online sites.

For more details on how the campus community is addressing textbook costs, visit http://www.provost.wisc.edu/teach.php#7

For more information or to ask questions about the Swap, e-mail asmtextbookswap@gmail.com or visit ASM’s Academic Affairs Committee’s Web page, http://www.asm.wisc.edu/academic-affairs-committee.html.