Where can I find my required course texts?

As SUNY Geneseo students know, Sundance Books is the campus’ main supplier of course texts. Not only does Sundance provide the utmost in convenience, but the person-to-person customer service cannot be matched elsewhere.

Where can students turn when their required texts are not readily available at Sundance?

There are a number of options; some of which may be obvious, while others may provide students with affordable, and in some cases charitable, solutions.

MSNBC recently featured an article providing suggestions on ways that college students can save money on their required textbooks.

Options range from borrowing books from Milne Library and through Information Delivery Services to textbook rentals to swapping books. Each comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. For instance, most libraries do not carry many textbooks. If they do, they may be in such high demand that they rarely lend them to other libraries. Keep in mind that if they do lend them, it will be for a limited amount of time rather than for a whole semester.

Following are a few links that could be of interest:

• Affordable Textbooks for the 21st Century
  
  
• FAQ on Textbook Rental Programs, National Assoc of College Stores (NACS)
  
  
• Ecampus
  
  
• Textbooksnow.com
  

Textbook Rental

• BookRenter
  
  
• Campus book rentals – textbook rentals with a humanitarian twist
  
  
• Chegg.com – textbook rentals with an environmental twist

Textbook Swap

• College Swap Meet
  
  
• College Swap Shop

Comparison Shop

• Best Book Buys
  
  
• Big Words
  
  
• Campus Books

Textbook Resale

• Books into Cash
  
  
• Textbook Buyer

Originally posted September 1, 2008 by Kim Davies Hoffman