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USED BOOKS
August 2002
SUMMARYThe Society of Academic Authors objected to a media kit from that National Association of College Stores that recommended to college students that they opt for used books whenever possible. SA2 letter:
Society of Academic Authors
August 19, 2002
Kenneth L. Bowers, President
National Association of College Stores
UCSB Bookstore
University Center
Santa Barbara, CA 93107
Dear Mr. Bowers:
The back-to-campus media kit issued by the National Association of College Stores includes useful advice for students, but its unqualified recommendation to "buy used books whenever possible" is alarming.
As a professor myself I have countless sad tales of students buying outdated, marred and flawed used books. To take one example, workbooks often have pages missing. Then there are the outdated editions that so many students have bought cheap and at their own peril try to use in a course.
These problems, I grant, occur more in student-to-student trafficking in used books than in campus store transactions, but stores too sell bad copies.
I write to ask that if NACS prepares a back-to-campus media kit for 2003, that it warn students about the hazards of buying used books. A detailed checklist would be in the consumer-friendly tone of the 2002 media kit.
On a broader issue, I find it inconsistent that you as NACS president would be quoted in the media kit as promoting used books and simultaneously bemoaning the price of textbooks as "a very expensive investment for students." It is used books that have driven the price of textbooks, both new and used, to their current levels.
You know the escalating price spiral phenomenon: Every used book sale cuts into new book sales, giving publishers no choice but to increase prices to recover their costs and maintain a reasonable profit. As the price of new books has increased, the used-book industry has found opportunities to jack up what it charges. For campus stores, as you know, profit margins for used books far exceed those of new books. It's disingenuous for NACS to both pillory the price of textbooks and to engage in the used-book trafficking that has brought prices to their current levels.
The Society of Academic Authors, whose 900 members represent the largest group of textbook authors in the nation, stands ready to work with NACS to accurately present the facts about used books -- both the dangers for student purchasers and the larger picture of how they drive up the price of books in general.
Sincerely,
John Vivian
Society of Academic Authors |
News release in NACS media kit: Full text
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