Buying Textbooks
First-years register for classes the day before classes start which was…. Stressful. Worried about not being prepared for my first day, I bought all of the textbooks (used when available, new when not) for all of my classes at the campus bookstore. Thankfully, I continued taking the classes I had bought the textbooks for.
What I did this past semester and what I’ll be doing next semester is waiting to buy my books. I’m an intended English major, and my professors tend to prefer hard copies of books for my classes, meaning no pdfs (a lot of my friends will get free pdfs instead of paying $100 for a textbook). Smith has an add/drop period for a reason- so you can sit-in on a bunch of classes (even ones you aren’t registered for) and figure out your schedule. In addition, the syllabus might change, so it’s best to wait for the updated version you’ll get from professors (either on the first day, or by emailing them).
There are a couple of different ways to get the books you need:
Posting in your house Facebook Group is a great way to go! Lots of people save their books (especially from intro classes) to sell (at big discounts) or give away.
House Libraries are another great resource! A ton of people leave textbooks for their housemates to use… and by a ton… I mean a ton…. One of my friends was cleaning Talbot’s library and found a math textbook from the 1950s!
Free & For Sale (Facebook Group) is always worth a look, but if the person you want to buy something from goes to another college it can be difficult to find a time to meet (versus at Smith they can leave it outside your door if your schedules don’t align).
Smith College Bookstore usually (but definitely not always) has the best prices to get textbooks. I’d recommend renting (you can write in rentals!) to save money, but the price difference between renting and owning isn’t huge. At the end of the semester you can try to sell back your books here (even if you didn’t buy them from the bookstore).
Outside Sources like Barnes & Noble, Amazon, EBay, Raven Used Books (local bookstore) and Broadside Books (local bookstore) are always worth taking a look, but I haven’t found the best deals from them in the past.
The Library- honestly I’m mad at myself for not using it for my books sooner. The library is invaluable and underutilized resource at Smith. You can check out books for three months at a time (essentially the whole semester), and if Smith doesn’t own the book for some reason (fun fact Smith doesn’t own The (unofficial) Hogwarts Haggadah but UMass does) you can get it super quickly through the five colleges or an interlibrary loan.
If you need it, you can also apply for Textbook Assistance!
Stack of books I’ll be leaving for future Talboteers! The top two are from ENG 199, the one below and the bottom book are from Intro Jewish Studies, the two below are from Soviet Union and the Cold War and the one below that is from my first year seminar Can Women Have Adventures?
