To alleviate rising costs of textbook prices, the Associated Students of Madison's Academic Affairs Committee announced Thursday the debut of a textbook swap program for the spring 2008 semester.
The swaps - o - oco-sponsored by Chadbourne Residence Hall and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences - o - oare scheduled to take place at two different locations at the beginning of next semester.
We've gotten a lot of support,"" said Christie Penn, ASM Campus Relations chair. ""[Dean of Students] Lori Berquam has been really supportive as well.""
Penn said many student organizations have expressed support.
""The big challenge is going to be encouraging students to hang on to their books over Winter Break,"" Penn said. ""We think that [students will] get a lot more back for them if [they] are able to exchange them in the swap.""
Jessica Palvich, ASM Academic Affairs Committee chair, said the swaps would allow students to sell back old books for more money and purchase used books for less money than they might have to at the campus bookstores.
Steve Scheibel, supervisor of the general textbook department at University Bookstore, said he is not concerned about the swap generating competition.
""There have been book swaps of one sort or another, either student-sponsored or ones that students have generated themselves as long as I have been here, which is over 30 years,"" Scheibel said. ""It's nothing new to us.""
He said the swap will face obstacles such as the exchange of books that will be replaced in future semesters due to new editions or different professors and course offerings.
""There are some hurdles that folks getting involved don't know about, but that doesn't mean there won't be successes,"" Scheibel said.
Palvich said in meetings with campus officials, the committee has received feedback on the program's progress and possible obstacles.
""We really have a fairly good base as far as to how we want to run this and problems we might encounter,"" she said.
According to Palvich, the swaps will likely allot three separate blocks of time - one for students to drop off books and set prices, one to purchase books and one to pick up profits from the sale.
""If there's maybe two books you can buy back and sell back and you can save some money, I think that's a really good start,"" she said.
ASM will send an e-mail to students during the second week of December once an exact time and location is determined.
UW-Madison junior Ilana Fein said she is excited for the swap.
""Now I can concentrate more about worrying for my tests and papers than money for overpriced books. I'm definitely going to look into it,"" she said.
