Students might be able to get their hands on more affordable textbooks with a new law passed by Congress.

“The cost of basic textbooks have been highly inflated to inexcusable levels,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), in a press conference call.

The law will require book prices to be available before signing up for any college course, and for publishers to unbundle books, which will get rid of extra CDs and other materials that are sometimes never used.

The choice of college textbooks, costly or not, has always been on the shoulders of college professors. But while visiting colleges across Illinois, Durbin noticed many professors don’t even know the book’s cost, he said.

To encourage professors to choose more affordable books, the law requires publishers to provide more content and pricing information about the textbooks to professors.

Matthew Swan, NIU communications and Kishwaukee Community College theater professor, said he and his other colleagues have always been aware of the price of their required books. Swan’s most expensive books range from $35 to $50 from either of the bookstores or online, he said. The theater class that he teaches at Kishwaukee does not require a book.

Thomas Oates, NIU assistant journalism professor, agreed that knowing the price of required books is a common practice among his colleagues.

Oates says since his other colleagues also keep in mind the cost of books, he didn’t think requiring publishers to inform professors would make much of a difference.

The Internation Standard Book Number (ISBN), the bar code of textbooks, will also be available so students can go online and get the cheapest book price.

The law, however, will not be enacted until January 2010.

Durbin said publishers insisted on postponing when the law becomes effective.

“In the world I live in you have to make these concessions to pass the bill,” Durbin said. “That doesn’t mean students across America can’t do something about it now.”

Durbin urged student governments to sit down with their faculty senate and school administration to implement the same incentives to start next year.

Swan said he would participate in any meeting that would make education easier for students.
Oates opposed a meeting requiring faculty to look at the cost of textbooks.

“Policing faculty moves us in a dangerous direction,” he said.

The Public Interest Research Group, a national group that lobbies on a number of issues, is working to make online electronic textbooks more available.

College professors who have authored textbooks can make their texts available online for free, Durbin said. Legally and illegally, students have the option of getting electronic textbooks online.

Durbin does not recommend using the illegal site, but said he will give notice to the publishing industry that “... if they don’t wake up to the reality that some of these prices are outrageous, more and more students will look for alternatives they can afford.”

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