Campus textbook rental hosts discontinued textbook sale

The Southeast Missouri State University textbook rental office is going green. On March 9, the textbook rental office opened bids to multiple companies to buy the discontinued course textbooks from the university.

After the bid took place, the university sold the leftover books to whomever wanted them at 12 books for $1. All proceeds made from the biannual discontinued textbook sale goes to the textbook office budget. The books not sold during the sale are either donated to local high schools in need or they are recycled.

According to Laurie Taylor, textbook rental office manager, each department goes through and reviews the textbooks it uses at least every two years, but the rules can be flexible. Once the department chairman decides the information in the textbook is outdated or not relevant, he or she orders newer and updated versions of the book and the textbook rental office handles the rest.

"When we go through and decide which books are being discontinued, I put out the bid list to get the most money," Taylor said. "We go through used book buyers companies; it's a supply and demand kind of thing. If they want a particular book and they know that ahead of time, they will pay more to get it. Once no one wants to buy the books, that's when we sell them [the books] 12 for $1. We have a lot of people in the past come in and buy the books simply for extra study towards their majors."

Everyone was welcomed at these book sales because it was not strictly for students but also for the community as a whole.

"We've been doing this for years," Taylor said. "Participation with students has gone down greatly. We advertise it in the Southeast event calendar and in the news wire, but other ways is we chalk the sidewalks if the weather is decent, but this year the weather definitely did not cooperate."

"When I went to SEMO, I did not even know that they had these," Southeast alumnus Thomas Holley said. "I just used the textbook rental service and rented my books. I never thought of using the discontinued books to help me study. It is a good idea, I guess, for people who want to go the extra mile or just people to keep in their own personal library."

With the use and need of technology on the rise, the need for the textbook services could completely diminish. Also, with the wish to be green, the textbook rental office is doing all it can to stay relevant by recycling and negotiating with companies to keep book prices down.

"I do not put them [the books] in a landfill," Taylor said. "I want someone to have them because it has good information. With high schools offering dual credit classes but not having the access to the right material, we are benefiting the future students by donating the used books to them. ... There are smart kids in poor school districts and they should not be penalized for that. English books don't change. There are companies that will give us money per box and they will recycle the books. So nothing will end up somewhere in a landfill. We are very green around here."

Some of the books even go overseas to other countries to help children and people who want to learn.

"One year we had a girl who worked with us and she had the connection to send some of our leftover books over to the Philippines," Taylor said.

The discontinued textbook sale happens twice a year in the fall and spring. Next semester the sale is scheduled for Oct. 12. For more information on the sale, visit the textbook rental office in the Kent Library basement.