Avoid Getting Burned by Books

Although you may only open them in the frenzied hours leading up to midterms and finals, textbooks nevertheless set you, or perhaps your parents, back hundreds of dollars. Poof!

Try as one may to frugally borrow Lit Hum books from friends, the ploy proves costly in terms of malevolent looks and lost annotations. Of course, students can also find most textbooks in Butler Library, on reserve or otherwise, but this proves similarly inconvenient.

However, for most of us who lack the charm or wherewithal to get free books, options abound.

The Columbia University Bookstore in Lerner Hall proves most convenient. Most professors order textbooks through this campus bookstore that also offers Columbia clothes, school supplies, garish lighting, and excellent background music. The Barnes and Noble affiliate does offer some used books at a reduced price, but overwhelmingly, the prices are as high as an elephant's eye. At least costs can be charged to your Flex account. When it comes to buying back used books, the university bookstore is similarly forbidding--usually offering 50 percent or less of the original price, depending on condition, inventory, and the course. And be sure to watch out for flash floods--water pipes burst twice last year, leaving some customers feeling Odyssian as they navigated the shelves.

Labyrinth Bookstore on 112th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam offers a welcome departure from the sterility of the Columbia bookstore. More in line with the student body, Labyrinth appears to employ mostly anarchists. Sporting all black clothes, the workers prove courteous in showing students various leftist publications. Haphazard organization may hamper and/or entertain shoppers. To avoid monopolization by the Columbia Bookstore, many professors order textbooks through Labyrinth. Prices are also somewhat lower.

However, the Internet offers the best deals. The recently developed dogears.net provides a free textbook exchange service.

Cash-starved students post their used books at heavy discounts--usually 60 to 75 percent. And with heavy competition, shoppers can peruse thousands of postings to find the best deal.

The search engine is easy to use. The only difficulty is finding a rendezvous point for the sale. Lerner ramps? Too confusing. Alma Mater? Too cold during the winter months. The roof of East Campus? Perfectly scandalous. Then there's the matter of recognizing the seller or buyer. Don't describe yourself as having brown hair. Instead, simply hold the book or cash prominently above your head and wait patiently. Of course, several concurrent sales can hurl any planned rendezvous into chaos. Keep alert.
Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com offer less generous deals, but it's still worth a shot. Barnesandnoble.com eliminates shipping charges for purchases over $25 and offers same day deliver in Manhattan.

But when it comes right down to it, befriend upperclassmen and beg for old textbooks. Then, when with you're done with the books, sell them to unknowing freshman.