Finding Textbooks: A Guide for Students   Tags: bookstore, textbooks  

Having trouble locating the exact edition of your textbook?  Search by ISBN.  This blog post will walk you through all the steps.

A quick how-to guide on finding your textbooks in the BGSU Libraries or through OhioLINK.  For more detailed instructions, see the Textbooks in the BGSU Libraries Catalog and Textbooks in the OhioLINK Catalog tabs.

BGSU Bookstore

The BGSU Bookstores located on both campuses launched a new price comparison service called “BGSUChoose” for the spring semester, 2011.  The web page can be accessed from the Bookstore web page or by using the yellow “Book List” button in the class schedule.  Students can see the core book information for BGSU classes, including the Bookstore’s prices for rental, eText, used, and new books as well as the prices of four online competitors.  Seamless ordering is possible from this site for all five companies and a special analytics tool allows the Bookstore to price many new books below the standard selling price to be more competitive with the market rate.

This guide seeks to offer you a number of alternatives to purchasing textbooks.  Whether you borrow them from the library, rent them, buy them used, or can find them freely available online, we hope you'll find yours!  If you ever need assistance locating your textbooks within our library, requesting through OhioLINK, or simply searching online, stop by the Jerome Library Research & Information Desk, call us at 419-372-6943, or send us an IM from the box at the right.

• Shop around, but understand the return policies before purchasing textbooks and save your sales receipts. Be careful to buy the right "version" of the textbook. Do you need software that comes with it? If you buy online, can you return it without paying shipping? Can you get a refund on the shipping charges you already paid?
• Go to the first day of class and make sure the professor is using all of the textbooks.
• Buy used textbooks if possible.
• Check to see if your textbook can be rented from the BGSU Bookstore.
• Encourage your professor to place a copy of the textbook on University Libraries reserve, or to work with the University Bookstore's textbook rental program.
• If practical, share books with classmates.

BGSU offers a textbook exchange program as part of the Blackboard Community.  To access it, login to MyBGSU, click the Community tab, and look for it on the right side of page, listed with the ride board, trading post, and volunteering opportunities.  Students can post books they need or books they'd like to sell.

This guide was created by Kate Najacht.  For questions, comments, errors, requests, please contact:

Kate Najacht
knajach@bgsu.edu
419-372-2362