RE: [HAPS-L] Textbook prices

["Alice Mills" <amills@xxxxxxx>]

I agree with Sheri, I get books that I shouldn’t get.  I have, literally, 7 books on my floor right now, most in their shipping packages, that have arrived over the past couple of weeks, and most that I won’t even look at.  When they enclose a pre-paid return shipping label I do send them back.  Otherwise, I give all extra books to students, or place them in the lab for reference, and as others have mentioned, while I do have a “required” text for my A&P course, if anyone asks about another text they already have access to by another author, I tell them to use it;  similarly if they ask if they can skip buying the text altogether, I say give it a try and see how the first exam goes, and help yourself to the books in the lab as reference.



 _____  

From: HAPS-L-owner@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:HAPS-L-owner@xxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Sheri Boyce
Sent: Friday, March 10, 2006 7:56 AM
To: HAPS-L@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [HAPS-L] Textbook prices







Ken Saladin wrote:
" * Don't request complimentary copies just because they'd be nice to have for personal reference. In my naive younger years, I tended to look at comp copies as a perquisite of being a professor -- "Cool! I can get free books!"  But that was a lapse in judgment. It's simply not ethical to request comp copies that you're not going to seriously consider for course adoption. And if you do request a comp copy and then don't adopt it, it would at least be a nice gesture -- some return for the publisher's generosity -- to return some feedback on the book that the editor and author might benefit from, such as a reason why you chose Book X over theirs."



I agree that it is unethical to order a comp copy with no or little intent to adopt it.  But...does anyone else consistently receive comp copies of books that you didn't request?  I've lost track of the number of texts, some for classes that I never have or will teach, that arrive unrequested in my mailbox.  In the last 6 months, I even received TWO copies of the same A&P text.  If publishers bemoan that they find it difficult to make money, why are they sending me books that I haven't asked for and won't use?  In cases like this, I don't feel so uneasy about turning around and selling the book and putting the $$ in my kids' college funds.  



Any thoughts out there?



Sheri













Sheri L. Boyce, PhD
Associate Professor of Biology
One College Avenue
PO Box 3030
Grantham, PA  17027
(717) 796 1800 x2632
sboyce@xxxxxxxxxxx