Bookstore starts pilot book rental program

Students looking to save money and recycle this semester can rent their books online through the University of Montana Bookstore.

The Bookstore, Bookrenter.com and Follett Publishers, a used textbook wholesaler, are joining forces for the Fall 2010 Textbook Rental Pilot Program to offer UM students textbooks for rent on the website with free shipping. The project is an attempt to give more affordable options for students battling high textbook costs, said Jon Aliri, assistant manager at The Bookstore.

Although The Bookstore will get a "very small margin" of students' payments to the website, Aliri said textbook rental could help ease pressure the store has faced in recent years to provide alternatives to expensive new textbooks.

"There's just one goal: to make course materials affordable to students," Aliri said. "We will actually make a lot less money on the rental program than any other."

The Bookstore has long offered used books and course packs, which are becoming more common, and are standard at the College of Technology, Aliri said.

With the new rental program, students will complete all transactions online and must use credit or debit cards, which may exclude students who depend on financial aid accounts, vocational rehabilitation accounts or job service accounts to buy their books. However, this is something The Bookstore hopes to change to increase student access, General Manager Bryan Thornton said.

After this semester, the store will survey students about their rental experience and decide what changes should be made in the future, added Thornton. If the system is working for students, The Bookstore hopes to rent books directly from its shelves next semester, he said.

"Our main goal is to get these books to students. We want to make sure we're not creating more of a problem than a solution," Thornton said. Although Follett Publishers and Book Renter offer thousands of titles, most of them cater to 100 and 200 level courses, Aliri said. Kyle Larson, a junior studying microbiology, said that's not such a bad thing.

For lower-level courses, Larson doesn't usually want to keep his books, and with shipping costs, he said Amazon can get as expensive as The Bookstore. This semester Larson has to buy five books that are about $100 each and a handful of "Griz Packs" that run about $30 each. Because of these costs, he's considering the rental option.

"I would definitely rent, with the price of tuition anymore and education in general," Larson said, browsing the science aisle of The Bookstore's textbook section. "Most of the generals won't be used for your major, so why pay full price?"

Benefit remains relative since some books will be exceptionally cheaper to rent, but others won't save students money when compared to used books from The Bookstore, Aliri said.

"There are great deals and not-so-great deals, so the benefit is going to be on a case-by-case basis," he said. "Most students enrolled in principle courses will be able to take full advantage of discounts. On the other hand, those students won't get to keep those books."

heidi.groover@umontana.edu