Textbook rentals soldier on in Wisconsin

WHITEWATER, Wisconsin, Aug. 25, 2001 -- For historic reasons that date to the Great Depression, Wisconsin remains home to more colleges than anywhere else that rent textbooks to students -- rather than sell them. Seven four-year and two two-year campuses in the state university system are in the rental business: UW-Barron County, UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse, UW-Platteville, UW-Richland Center, UW-River Falls, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Stout and UW-Whitewater.

EXPANDED COVERAGE Reporter: Kim Pawlak This article first appeared in the online newsletter of the Text and Academic Authors Association.

It's a practice instituted in the economically desperate 1930s, when the state government looked for ways to ease the burden on students. Only a few colleges have gone to rentals in recent years. When students proposed it a few years ago at Winona State University in Minnesota, across the Mississippi River from Wisconsin, the university president, Darrell Krueger, said it would "send the wrong message" to students that textbooks are only of transitory value. Also working against expansion of rental systems is the huge investment in inventory that is needed. A campus would need to buy an entire fleet of books at once -- a multi-million dollar outlay for even modest-size institutions. But the rental system soldiers on at some Wisconsin campuses, albeit with adjustments over time. For example, at UW-Whitewater, textbooks for graduate courses are unavailable for rental. Also, undergraduates are encouraged to keep the books they rent. Said Terrie Meinel, acting associate bookstore director: "Undergraduate students are encouraged to purchase any of the books they are renting, or any others in the system, and we offer a 10 to 30 percent discount, depending on how long the title has been in the system."

As a general policy, an adopted textbook is used by faculty for three years so the rental revenue can offset the university's investment. There is some flexibility on the three-year policy at the discretion of the bookstore director, said Meinel. There also is an appeal process to a faculty committee. The appeal process, he said, is "seldom necessary" because publishers keep many textbooks are on a three-year or longer edition cycle.

In a situation in which textbooks or learning materials come with an expirable access code, said Meinel, they would not be available for rental. Students have to buy. At UW-Whitewater, the bookstore hasn't faced this issue, he said.

If a book comes packaged with a CD-ROM that is used by individual students and professors, it is barcoded and treated like a book, said Meinel: "Students check them out, and they return them. We have not had a problem with this method."

As might be expected, textbook authors are not keen on rentals. The executive director of the Text and Academic Authors Association, Ron Pynn, said there are many problems associated with book rentals. "It keeps out-of-date books in circulation too long and works against better books being adopted. The pressure is to use a book the school purchases as a student loaner for as long as the school can to get their money out of the text. This works against a new book, better pedagogically, being adopted. It also keeps the book in circulation when a new edition may be appropriate."

Journalism author John Vivian, a former TAA president, also frowns on textbook rental systems. It forces professors, through "substantial, unstated institutional pressure," he said, to keep books for sometimes five years, the time needed for the institution to recoup the investment. The result? "In many fields, students have outdated materials -- which is not good education," he said.

"Certainly, it cheapens the perceived role of learning materials in the educational process," said Vivian. "It's worth noting that many rental schools are second- and third-tier institutions -- no Harvards, Princetons, Madisons or Berkeleys."

Vivian said the issue of textbook rentals is an interesting although not major issue for authors overall: "As far as I know, the publishers have never fought it although they don't think it's a good idea either. To fight it would be perceived as greediness. I think, though, that opposition can be argued on sounder, pedagogical grounds. Textbooks, after all, are a modest part of a student's total college bill."