COLUMN: "Required Reading"

From Caren Lissner's "Pretty Sneaky Sis," Spring '92. Used copies of George Orwell's 1984, a novel required for Professor Jack Reece's History 424 course, sell for $7.50 at the Book Store, according to the sticker on the books. The price printed on the front cover is illegible because it has been vigorously crossed out in pen. That would make sense, because, after all, they can't sell it for the original price if it's a used book. Next door at Encore Books, you can buy the same edition of the novel new for the price marked on its cover, the price that is crossed out at the Book Store -- $4.95. · Book prices have always been the "lunchroom food" of college. In high school, everyone complained about and wrote editorials against the food in the lunchroom but nobody ever did anything about it. There really wasn't much you could do. Likewise, there is little students can do to avoid paying high book prices. But vigilance on the part of the University community could help alleviate the problem. Professor Jack Reece, who assigned 1984 to his History 424 class, was not aware that the Book Store was selling used copies of the novel for $2.55 more than it costs new at the store next door. "That is really disgusting," Reece said, when told of the price. "The Book Store is supposed to be a service, not a profit center." Though Reece was not aware of the Book Store problem, he was aware of high book prices in general. He said that when he wanted to order copies of a paperback on World War II for his class, he thought there was an error because the price was listed as $34. He said that when he called Prentice-Hall, he found out that the price was a mistake -- the paperback's actual cost was $36.75. Reece instead put one copy on reserve in the library. If all professors were that concerned with book prices, perhaps publishers would be forced to lower them. But unfortunately, this is not always the case. Often, professors will order an edition of a book that is more expensive than comparable editions, or a hardcover version that might cost double what the paperback costs. And when new editions of the book come out every few years, it becomes impossible to buy a cheaper used version or resell one's version of the book. For instance, the new edition of Richard Lattimore's translation of the Odyssey sells for $10 in the Book Store. My $5.95 copy of the same translation, which was good two years ago but is now outdated, is virtually worthless to students. They can't, after all, quote pages if they are not the same as in the professor's edition of the book. Sometimes professors will state that the edition does not matter, but not always. Now, one wonders why Lattimore had to come up with a new edition in the first place. Has the 2000-year-old Odyssey changed that much in the last two years? Did Homer arise from the dead and revise his epic tale? Did Lattimore realize that he made a mistake, that Charybdis was not a whirlpool at all, but a sauna? Perhaps $10 is not a large price to pay for the Odyssey, but there are other paperback books that are outrageously priced, as evidenced by the ever-popular Pinney Handbook. This pamphlet on grammar rules is less than a half-centimeter thick and is 58 pages long, yet it sells for $8 in the Penn Book Center. My roommate and I, when we were freshman fools, each bought a copy for $6 for our English seminar classes. It was on the required reading list, but neither of us ever ended up needing it for class. This book is still required for many freshman seminars, which makes one wonder how many of Thomas Pinney's cousins teach English at Penn. Actually, says David Espey, the director of the freshman English program who requires the book for his English 135 class, most handbooks are that expensive. There are cheaper handbooks, but according to Espey, they are not as modern, practical, clear and concise. This may be true, but it is a shame that professors can't find a book that is modern, practical, clear, concise and reasonably priced. In fact, if one laid the Pinney Handbook open on a copy machine, he could photocopy the entire book for 90 cents. It's hard to believe that it costs publishers more than a dollar and a half to produce the book. According to Book Store director Michael Knezic, the problem does lie with the publishers and not the bookstores. When he brings up the question of book prices with publishers, they usually say the price is determined by the materials (i.e. glossy paper) and the fact that they must often use colored ink for textbooks. Knezic stresses that the Book Store is not at fault for high prices. They routinely mark up the books 20 to 25 percent of what they are charged in order to pay for freight costs, labor, ticketing, etc. The store is part of the University, so it is not meant to make a profit, but it can't lose money either. One of the problems the store has, according to Knezic, is that they can only order, say, 100 copies of a particular book at a time, while a store that is part of a chain can order thousands of books and receive discounts from the publishers. Another problem is the professors, Knezic says. They often order more books than there are students. The Book Store can return the books, but they still have to pay for the labor and delivery. Knezic cites a recent example in which a professor ordered a book on Gorbachev for his history class. Gorbachev left, the professor dropped the book, and the Book Store had to return 400 copies. There are other questions to be asked. Have professors ever engaged in a "you assigned my book, I'll assign yours" relationship? And how much temptation is there to assign their own books in places where they aren't needed? History professor Reece said that assigning one's own books when they aren't relevant to the class is normally frowned upon. However, there was a case a few years ago of a professor who assigned a particular edition of the Bible with his introduction for a popular Bible class. Reece was unsure whether any money went to the professor, who is no longer with the University, but the royalties obviously couldn't have gone to "Moses and St. Paul." · There are many things that could be done to help solve these problems. Professors could pay attention to book prices and refuse to order overpriced books. They could also put books that will only require a quick reading on reserve. And most importantly, they could seek out cheaper editions of comparable books. If the Book Store is victimized by small orders and expensive publishers, it could put forth more of an effort to make people aware of these problems. If only ordering 50 copies of a certain book will be expensive, they should tell the professor that it is available more cheaply in nearby bookstores and that there may be less expensive editions of the book. After all, the Book Store is "just a service," as the director says. Students are forced to buy books if they want to do well in a course. This opens us up to exploitation from all sources. If we blindly continue to purchase overpriced books we will continue to be exploited. If you really want to make a statement, you might consider buying out Encore Books' stock of 1984 (assuming the five to 20 percent everyday discount they offer counteracts the seven percent sales tax) and going next door to sell it to the Book Store for $5, which is what they'll give you for your used copy. Then, take the profits and go buy an egg roll. · Caren Lissner is a junior English major from Old Bridge, New Jersey. Pretty Sneaky Sis will appear alternate Fridays.