With LSU students paying nearly $1,500 per year for textbooks, some are turning away from the bookstore and finding alternate sources to get required books.
LSU Libraries’ textbook database can be one resource for students who don’t want to break the bank this semester. Emily Frank, an instructional technologies and engineering librarian for LSU, explained that the school’s textbook database can save students and teachers a lot of hassle.
“The prices for textbooks this fall [in the database] ranged from $6.95…to $209,” Frank said.
Frank explained if students using the most expensive book in the system, an environmental engineering textbook, used the library’s e-book instead, the class would have saved over $6,000.
STEM textbooks generally cost more than supplies for liberal arts and humanities classes. A new edition of “A First Course in Differential Equations,” which is used in some sections of MATH 2065, currently sells for $442 at the LSU Bookstore.
The library currently has access to 140 textbooks for students. Frank said the library works with the bookstore to collect the textbook requirements professors send in every semester.
“What we do on our end is we search that information for matches of e-books that we have in our collection or that we can buy,” Frank said.
The library has certain prerequisites when acquiring e-books. Frank said the books must be universally accessible so more than one person can use the book at the same time. The books must also have its chapters in PDF format.
The textbooks in the library database are also perpetually available for students, which means they do not expire at the end of the semester like rented textbooks.
These three specifications mean only a limited amount of books are available on the database.
“We’re proud of what we’re doing, and it has had a really great impact with students, but not every textbook will be on this page,” Frank said.
She said every textbook in the library’s database is available to buy or rent at the bookstore for students who would rather have a physical copy.
The library is also working on a new feature that will allow professors to build their course around the e-books in its database. The initiative was funded by Student Government and will allow professors to search for e-books to provide free content for students.
Frank said professors are usually receptive of the database and pass along the information to their students. She said the library will continue to make sure students are aware of the resource as students begin to look for their textbooks for the spring.
“We always try to put it on our social media, Student Government also puts it out there…and students learn from word of mouth,” Frank said.
Students are also using alternate websites to purchase textbooks. Mass communication senior Alicia Buckelew said she purchased all her textbooks this semester online from Chegg and Amazon because of the discounts.
“Chegg sends you free promotions when you buy…and almost all books on Amazon offer Prime, so there’s no shipping or tax,” Buckelew said.
Business freshman Ashlyn Smith said she uses Chegg to buy her books because the prices are easier to work with on a budget.
“[Textbooks are] extremely hard to afford on minimum wage,” Smith said. “I went with Chegg because it was a way more realistic price.”