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University Textbook Exchange Software

Posted by michael on from the cut-out-the-middleman dept.

PageMap writes "With the textbook-buying season upon us, many universities and student organizations are attempting to combat the on-campus bookstore's overcharging by starting up their own grassroots book exchange efforts. The problem is the seeming lack of available web-based software to facilitate an efficient book exchange. Is there such a thing as free web-based software made for this type of use?"

2 of 324 comments (clear)

  1. Creating a Monster by fbroooooz · · Score: 5, Interesting
    When my parents went to school they actively participated in a grassroots book exchange program to protest the high priced book and supply store that had all the business. By the time I started taking classes at that same school, the small book exchange they started had transformed into an equally evil and overpriced textbook boutique.

    Perhaps politics and bureaucracy are the main roadblocks to creating something like this instead of html, cgi, and perl.

  2. Stanford's Bookshare by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Stanford has something called "Bookshare".

    It's student developed and student maintained. Basically, you sign up and then list any books you own but don't currently need. By searching through the combined listings, you can usually find copies of your required textbooks for free. Then you return them at the end of the quarter/semester.

    share.stanford.edu is the general site, and it includes subsections for books, music and movies.

    I've used it myself and found the textbook library very useful. The textbook library is linked to the current course offerings, so it all works quite efficiently.

    Great clean user interface, and a simple concept. Could serve as a great model for an opensource effort, in my opinion.