Many textbooks are very expensive, and we at the library feel your pain. The library works hard to support MTSU classes with supplemental materials, but we cannot purchase all courses’ textbooks for placement on Walker Library
course reserve. It is always disheartening to send away a desperate student “empty-handed” when we know you have a tight budget and possibly an exam the next day requiring access to a textbook.
Recognizing the dilemma that many students face with textbook purchases, new businesses have found a niche in textbook rentals.
MyBookHead.com was started by a former MTSU student and offers students an alternative to purchasing expensive textbooks that may only be utilized by faculty one or two times during the course of a semester. MyBookHead.com has partnered with numerous college/campus bookstores throughout the country. Locally, it is partnered with the Blue Raider Bookstore and Beat the Bookstore. Rental fees are usually 10-15% per day of the book’s selling price. For a book that sells for $100.00, a typical rental fee would be $15.00 for three days.
Other textbook rental options include
Chegg.com, which mails books directly to a student rather than working through a bookstore and offers discounted semester-long rentals, as does
Bookrenter.com.
Angry about high textbook prices? Worried that it's only going to get worse? Feel like it's time for a change? So do
governmental groups,
university systems, and
public interest research groups. Tell someone what
you think. Try university administration and your state and federal legislators.
