SGA Passes Bills to Cap Textbook Costs, Encourage E-Reserve Use

Author: Claire Bourne

On Sunday, the Student Government Association (SGA) passed two bills designed to reduce the overall cost of course materials for Middlebury College students. The resolutions, authored and sponsored by Junior Senator Simon Isaacs, included recommendations to cap expenditures for each class at $200 and to encourage the effort to put coursepack materials on electronic reserve .

Earlier this semester, Isaacs, with the help of Information Technology Services, conducted a survey of 800 Middlebury students to gauge expenditures beyond the comprehensive fee. Those surveyed were asked to approximate how much they spend each semester on textbooks, on parking and towing violations, on laundry and at The Grille and MiddExpress. Recognizing that the survey did "not completely summarize the financial burden of being a Middlebury student," Isaacs said he addressed these categories because "they are areas in which [the SGA] can affect change."

Isaacs found that approximately 70 percent of survey participants spend over $300 on textbooks and coursepacks each semester. "Moreover, the reading lists of certain courses exceed $400," he explained in the rationale of his "Textbook Cost Resolution." "This is unacceptable."

Students on financial aid, in addition to those who do not qualify for aid but who still feel the financial burden of day-to-day life at the College, are often "deterred from taking a certain course because it is too expensive," Isaacs continued.

Photocopying reading selections of 50 pages or less, Isaacs said, is one way in which professors can reduce course material costs.

The bill to restrict expenditures for any given class passed through the SGA with one objection and two abstentions. Several SGA members argued that, if accepted by the faculty, this change could prohibit certain professors from including important texts on their syllabi.

The SGA unanimously endorsed Isaacs' second resolution to promote the use of electronic reserves instead of traditional coursepacks among faculty members. Isaacs affirmed that not only would this bill save money for both students and the College, but that it was also "an important environmental step that would reduce paper waste."

He pointed out that the printing of coursepacks was "a lose-lose situation" for students and the College, as The College Store makes no profit from selling them. "[The College Store] must pay for the printing costs and copyright fees upfront, regardless of whether [the coursepacks] are sold or not," Isaacs elucidated in the bill's rationale.

The College Store paid $34,624.56 last fall to the Copyright Clearance Center to copyright 89 coursepacks, according to Assistant Manager Georgia Best.

Retrieving articles that would normally be found in a coursepack on electronic reserve is currently free of charge for students. The copyright law of the United States stipulates, "Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction [of copyrighted materials]. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be 'used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship or research.'"

Luce Junior Fellow in Asian Studies and Political Science Instructor Robert Pekkanen said he was "a big fan of e-reserves." "I know that using e-reserves has saved student in my classes hundreds or thousands of dollars," he asserted.

Having used the system "extensively" for every course he has taught at the College, Pekkanen assigned "every single reading electronically" for his PS/JA 210 course. "There was no coursepack and no required text. In other words, students could take that class and not spend a penny on course materials," he said.

He explained that the advent of electronic reserves has allowed him to assign "the best possible readings regardless of cost." Before electronic reserves, Pekkanen said he often decided to place "second-best" readings on his syllabi because they were "one-tenth the price" of the best articles.

Associate Professor of Political Science Jeffrey Cason made the move to electronic reserves for both his classes this semester. He said he would convert readings to an electronic format for all his courses next year, citing reduced cost and greater accessibility as two advantages of the system. "Until this semester, I hadn't realized how easy it was to put together electronic reserves," he commented.

Judy Watts, head of circulation services at Starr Library, explained that the electronic reserve system was intended for supplementary reading material and said there was "no rule of thumb" regarding costs. Prices for making articles available online vary by publication, by publisher and by year and often depend on the number of students in the course. Despite these expenditures, Isaacs said that, according to his research, moving away from coursepacks and towards electronic reserves would save the College money.

Reproduction of library resources for electronic reserve has not yet been labeled as copyright infringement, Watts continued. "Clearly, it would be permissible to move a paper copy from the stacks to the Reserve desk. Scanning to make the copy available electronically may or may not be permissible. We may need to wait for a court case to establish policy," she elucidated.

Watts said that the library has seen "a big increase" in the number of faculty members using electronic reserves since fall 2001 when only "a handful" was using the system. Sixty-four professors teaching 83 classes have placed over 2,200 items on electronic reserve this semester.

Isaacs said that his "Electronic Reserves Resolution" enhanced Middlebury's commitment to maintaining a "green campus" since students only print what they intend to read. The bill's rationale also suggested that the College invest in more printers with a double-sided printing function in order to further reduce paper waste.