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| "I just want my book back!" |
So every semester I have this ongoing book struggle. I put 1-2 copies in the library, but the library is inconveniently located, and books sometimes go missing, checked out, not returned, or just not found. Students set up photocopying chains to circulate one book between a few people.
For the most part, we do okay. I get my books free from the department, and occasionally I feel like I have to lend one out. That happened this term, when on February 1st I lent Sad Sack Sally a $90 text that she was going to copy some assignments from and return the next class.
But she didn't come back the next week. So I emailed her. No reply. She didn't come back the next. This is a book I need. The campus that houses my free copies is 21 miles from where I teach and 45 from where I live. I kept emailing Sally. She has never returned. I went to get a new copy from my department but they were out. I was told I could send a note to the book rep for an extra but was told my our department assistant that the book rep was "tired of refilling us with freebies."
Finally I asked my chair what I should do. "Call the book police," she said. In our Dean of Students office there is an actual person who tracks down students who have borrowed college material and "gets" them to return it.
If they don't, they get suspended from the college, all grades and certificates are held.
I picture jackbooted thugs corralling Sally where she works at the Walgreens. And I don't want that.
I just want my book back.
"Tuition for my class costs $120. The books cost almost $300."
ReplyDeleteThat fact alone says an awful lot, about a lot of things. I'm inclined to think that the books should cost less, but also that tuition should probably be more, if only to reflect the actual value (or what should be the actual value) of the course. I understand all the arguments against raising tuition (and I'm all for financial aid lightening the burden), but we live in a country that, sadly, equates price with value, and no enterprise that costs less than even a mid-level new tech toy -- or a few months' worth of cable or cell phone usage -- is going to get much respect. Nor will students, faced with the choice between earning more money by taking on more hours of paid work and losing $120 because they drop/abandon a class, be likely to choose for the class (I'm not sure I would, either; it just doesn't add up).
As for the "book police," can you check with your colleagues to see if they are, indeed, jack-booted thugs, or whether they might be a more useful arm of student services, with power to prod the student in the direction of taking advantage of resources she needs? I can imagine either scenario.
And obviously, the fact that this is such a common problem at your institution also says a lot about the situation, and what's wrong with it.
You're a really nice guy. Can I borrow ninety bucks?
ReplyDeleteEither ask the school to get your book back or drive the - oh Lord - twenty miles to get a new one.
Regrettably, I've stopped loaning things to students. When I did that in the past, the materials--books, articles, a DVD (in one case)--always came back to me badly mangled. Sure, when a copy of a journal would come back all bent out of shape, it was not a big deal. But when a DVD from my own collection would come back with all kinds of battle scars, it would bother me to no end.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, there were several instances where students would come to me under similar circumstances to what was described above. Student X tried and tried to get a copy of the book but the bookstore was out of stock, none of the local university libraries had a copy on the shelf, Borders had just closed, and Amazon wasn't going to ship a used copy for another two weeks, so could I please lend my copy of the book for the weekend? I would oblige, telling the student that the copy I was lending was my only copy of the book, and since we would be discussing that book during the next class, I would absolutely need to get it back at the start of that class. Almost without fail, that student would be absent during the following class, which, obviously, messed up everything I had planned.
So I just don't lend stuff anymore. I don't enjoy having that policy, but it does save me from calling the book police.
I've had this exact problem, although it was always easy to get a replacement. (I was asked by an associate dean once, "What do you do with these books?"
ReplyDeleteI'm always told one thing by Deans, however, and one thing by students. Deans say, "Oh, they have the money for the book," but students always told me extremely affecting stories about how it baby formula (or bail bond money) before my silly little $75 grammar handbook.
I ended up copying reams of stuff (cost to the college, and then - of course -later on to the students.
I've loaned stuff I never got back, including a DVD of a movie that we used on a research assignment.
To the other point about you get what you pay for, my old college's tuition as once $90 for a 3 credit course. The problems were students just quit coming when they realized they couldn't put the time in. The money didn't allow college to be a priority. I'm all for educating those who want it, but at my current school - where tuition is about $30,000 a semester - students hang in there, and they buy the books because not doing so means they won't pass.
Contact the publisher rep and ask for a new copy as your old one was "lost."
ReplyDeleteWow, book police, I thought that was something out of Seinfeld. How do they "get" the students to return the books, I wonder? I think I'd really enjoy that job. I am very persuasive and have a lot of ready material about how missing books hurt other students and the importance of sharing books. I can also be intimidating if the situation warrants it.
ReplyDeleteI never loan books to anyone unless I have an extra copy. Borrowed books rarely get returned, in my experience. It's like money: I don't loan it out unless I don't mind never seeing it again.
And why the hell are textbooks so expensive anyway? They are reissued so often that students can't even resell them because the previous edition is worthless. Is it really that costly to produce a textbook, or is it just a way to screw over people who can least afford it because the publishers know that students have no choice but to buy the textbooks.
Our school has textbook rentals at about half the price of purchasing, but it's still more expensive than buying the international editions, which, although not legal to purchase in the US, are a fraction of the cost and identically except they are paperback and black and white. Occasionally an appendix is missing, but for $25 rather than $150, I can live without the appendix.
"or is it just a way to screw over people who can least afford it because the publishers know that students have no choice but to buy the textbooks."
DeleteMostly this, I fear. Textbooks do need to be updated, but not as frequently as many of them are being updated.
At this point, I'm inclined to pity the publishers. Between professor-generated wikis, the Khan Academy and self-publishing via Amazon, they are in for a rough time.
DeleteIt's true that the publishers are in a bind. They need to make money somehow, and we all need them to stay solvent.
DeleteHowever, I'm all for Khan Academy, self-publishing via Amazon, and linking to stuff on the web - anything that doesn't involve breaking copyright; because $300 for textbooks for one course is just obscene. But then I'm in the fortunate position of getting to choose my own textbooks.
Seriously? You have book police for this? Why aren't the book police going after the library copies?
ReplyDeleteSadly, I hate to think this, but since you were dumb enough to lend a student a book, it's your fault and you need to shell out $300 to buy a replacement copy. I say I hate to say that because I have been in the same situation, except my book didn't cost $300. It sucks!
The book that the student borrowed cost $90, not $300. The total cost of book's for Felix's class was $300.
DeleteThanks: I didn't read clearly enough.
DeleteI agree that you should not lend things you can't afford to lose. The student might well sell your book as a used textbook, too, profiting from your generosity. I'm sure the book police don't use physical force (just a little pepper spray and light baton work -- kidding), so it seems to me well within your rights to let them find her.
ReplyDeleteI had this huge battle getting Edition 5 of my textbook into the bookstore after Edition 6 came out. I don't *want* edition 6; it's 1/3 more expensive than Edition 5 new, and now that Edition 5 is used, students can get Edition 5 even cheaper. And Edition 6 has all kinds of crap-ola I can't teach in a 10-week quarter. We shall see who shows up with what textbook.
What's interesting is the number of pissed off blog posts by students who think that we're in CAHOOTS with publishers to give a new edition each year. I made my lecture notes based on Edition X. Do I want Edition (X+1), which sometimes consists just of re-shuffling of material? Hell no! But all the bookstore can order is Edition (X+1).
DeleteI tell my students on day one they can get the version I use cheaper on Amazon than from our bookstore.
DeleteI have loaned a copy out a few times, but first I asked the publisher sales rep for a couple extra copies. I have always gotten the loaned copy back in good condition, a bit more worn, but not abused,
Hey, that could mean that they read the book! Score one for you.
DeleteI would like to tell them to get the book from Amazon but they would wait until the weekend to place the order, then Amazon would not have the copies in stock. They don't get their book until the third week of class.
Never ever lend students anything. Ever. Ever EVER.
ReplyDeleteBut the library needs to keep track of its books better. At our library, if I put something on reserve, the student has to leave their driver's license or their student ID to get it. And they can only have it for 2 hours.
And jackbooted thugs are not going to confront Sally in the Walgreens. They're going to put a hold on her record and refuse to let her register, and hold her grades. Good for them. She'll show up right quick with your book, believe me.
Time to grow a spine and call the Book Police. The college has them in place for a reason.
ReplyDeleteAnd let's be serious...if the class costs $120, the students can afford $300 in books. $420 total pay-out for a class is still a freakin' bargain. If they are unwilling to pay the total cost, then they deserve to fail.
When I attended Community College in 1988, each class cost more than $120, and that was almost 25 years ago! As others have said above, if any student is unwilling to put the time and money into doing what's required for the class, then they deserve to fail. Not buying the books is just a cop-out, I don't care what lame (or not-so-lame) excuse they give. Do you think the Registar's Office shows pity when they don't pay their tuition or make arrangements to do so?
Having been where you are [lending a textbook and not getting it back], and based on the reason for not getting it back [the student was just hella-lazy, and after my 3rd reminder pretended to not know who I was, even while passing her in the hall!], I say sic the goons. You don't need to lose sleep about why she has your book; it is your goddamn book and she has it, and that's that.
ReplyDeleteMost textbooks are available in digital for illegally online. I'm a fan of buying an older (cheaper) edition of a book in paper form and then pirating the newest edition required for the class so I can do homework problems.
ReplyDeletePirate->Burn to CD->Give to students->Problem solved.
Doing that is even stupider than lending the student the book to begin with.
DeleteIndeed. I'm sure there would be no repercussions whatever for any faculty member caught doing such a thing. And I'm sure it would take at least five minutes to spot.
DeleteLots of copyright violations alluded to in these comments. I think I can get a share of the $50,000 criminal penalties collected by the FBI for each offense and, once I get the check, I can retire in Panama
ReplyDeleteStella has it right. Never lend anything to snowflakes. The one item I require snowflakes to buy costs $15, yet they constantly tell me they can't afford it for ridiculous and probably untruthful reasons. I had one claim he had to cheat on the test because he could only afford the $11 model. I won't even lend snowflakes pens or give them paper when they come to my office. Can they borrow my stapler? No fucking way. Most of my snowflakes are poor beyond belief, yet all of them have the latest cell phones and other gadgets. If they didn't waste their money on all that crap, they could buy their books. And if snowflakes had their priorities straight, they would have time to read and study those books.
ReplyDeleteExactly, h-p. I always love listening to students claim they cannot buy required texts/materials due to poverty, while sipping a $5 latte.
ReplyDeleteAs to the textbook price issue, I recall reading *somewhere* that Canada and the UK have price controls on textbooks. The same publishers jack up the prices in the US in order to make up for lost profits in those more tightly regulated markets. Don't know if it's true, but seems plausible given similar practices in the pharmaceutical industry.
The reasoning our bosses gave along those lines was more often that because we could not sell books to developing nations at (criminal) US prices, we had to jack up US prices to compensate. For what it's worth, I never heard the "prices are regulated in Canada and the UK" argument in my ~10 years working for textbook publishers.
Deletecircumvent the assistant, find the publisher on the web and contact the agent for your colleage yourself (they'll pass on your email to the agent). Ask for a replacement as your book was taken from your office (you dont have to say it was with your permission). Your assistant is just too lazy to get the replacement for you. Publishers reps LIVE to hand out copies to instructors who might then assign them. Act confident and you'll get your copy. Good luck! By the way, I save older versions of the book to lend students since its less of a problem if they dont get returned (and they almost always do, as students are grateful for my help).
ReplyDeleteWhere is Strelnikov when we need him? He'd just drive over to the student's apartment in his T-34 and be on his way back to your place, book in hand, within 10 minutes.
ReplyDeleteAt my CC, it's not nearly so dramatic as jack-booted thugs showing up at the door with a battering ram. All it means is the student gets a hold put on his/her record and cannot register, see grades, or have transcripts sent until the book is returned or paid for.
ReplyDeleteI have used the Book Police, but only once. It was also the only time I have ever loaned a book to a student. The situation was similar. She came to the first two classes, cried that she couldn't afford the book until the end of the month, and asked to borrow my one extra copy. Then she never appeared again. Once I put the Book Police to work, she called the department indignant about the hold, but the book was back in my campus mailbox 48 hours later.
Never, ever loan stuff to students. It seems that many of us have learned that the hard way. Irreplaceable (for all practical purposes) monographs, copies of Ph.D. theses, interesting textbooks, lovingly photocopied articles from Proc. Jap. Soc. Ham. Fur Wvg., valuable manuals for one-of-a-kind loom equipment -- the little scumsuckers will "lose" them all. No. You cannot borrow that. I may be willing to stand at the photocopier and watch you copy this and then hand it back to me. If you get me a cup of coffee.
ReplyDelete