GREENFIELD -- Karen Cole has been ordering textbooks for the Greenfield Community College Bookstore for about 16 years, and whenever she sees an especially pricey book, she calls the professor to make sure he or she knows how much the book will cost students.
'I have a pretty good rapport with the professors. I tell them the price. Then it's up to them to decide if (the book) is something they really, really need.
'Sometimes, they change the book,' said Cole.
By her old standards, a $100 price-tag made a textbook worth a phone call to the professor. But now, she says, 'about half the textbooks are over $100. It's terrible.'
And, if the book is bundled with a workbook, or a CD ROM, she says, 'I'll ask the professor: Are you sure that's really what you need?'
Over the last few years, student public interest research groups or 'PIRG's, including MassPIRG, have been rallying against textbook prices, which they say have been rising four times faster than the rate of inflation.
In a survey of 287 professors from Massachusetts colleges and universities over the fall semester of 2006, MassPIRG found that many professors were not given pricing information by textbook publishers' representatives. Also, only 50 percent of the professors who ordered textbooks that are 'bundled' with other materials, such as workbooks or software, said they used the supplemental bundled materials in their courses.
'We do a lot more business in used books now,' said Cole of GCC. She says the used textbooks generally cost about 25 percent less than new ones. She said about 60 percent of textbook sales are in used books. 'When I started, there were practically no used books here,' she said.
A cursory glance at the new textbooks on the GCC Bookstore shelves included 'Microbiology' at $154, 'Anatomy and Physiology,' $117, and a 'General Chemistry' book for $139. Cole said some of the books cover two semesters worth of material.
Some textbooks can't be sold as used books if the workbooks have been used or if software packaged with the book is missing. She said a lot of publishers won't put out software or workbooks separately. And whenever publishers update an edition, the old edition is no longer marketable. According to Cole, some textbook publishers update their books about every three years, even when the changes are relatively minor.
'We chose textbooks based on what we think is the best book,' said Norman Beebe, math assistant coordinator at GCC. He said the math department has been using the same math textbook for preparatory, beginning and intermediate algebra for the past four or five years. He said the publisher has stopped using the hard-cover version of that textbook, but that some students are still using them.
GCC Library Co-coordinator Ellen Carey said some professors will put a textbook on reserve, instead of requiring the students to buy it. However, she said, it's not possible or practical for the library to purchase every textbook used. 'Textbooks change so frequently,' she said. 'Different professors use different books.'
She said the library is trying to increase the online materials it has for reference and background information.
'We hear from the students who come in wanting to reserve a textbook and finding it's not here,' she said. 'Sometimes, faculty get a complementary copy from the publisher, and have no awareness of how much the book costs.'
Nikki Clark, a GCC student with MassPIRG said the group is trying to work with bookstores and college administrators to get textbook publishers to change their practices. She said GCC MassPIRG students have created a letter for professors with helpful tips to know when selecting textbooks for their classes.
'Efforts are being made to sign more students up on our book-swap Web site,' said Clark. She said the group plans to bring teachers and students to the Statehouse, once a textbook hearing is scheduled in the Legislature.
