The textbook chronicles

  Ah, the bookstore. The one-stop shop for overpriced University of Regina gear that you probably won’t wear, and the place where you go to flush away hard-earned money for overpriced books that you might not even need for your courses. The fact is that the bookstore is a kind of a mess right now, and those large, barely new textbooks are eating a hole in your wallet. But, I always like to think on the bright side, so even though your wallet might be significantly lighter, just think about all the exercise you’re going to get from lugging those insanely heavy textbooks around from class-to-class. Positives, am I right?

Another problem that I’ve heard students talking about is the new way the bookstore is laid out. It is a confusing mess, that I’m pretty sure was concocted by the most evil minds that inhabit our university (Vianne Timmons? Chartwells?). You actually have to come to the bookstore with a detailed plan as to how you’re going to buy your books. Gone are the days where you could just go to the part of the store that had your specific course, and just grab the books you needed. Now, you need to know the names of the authors of your books, and unless you happen to be taking a course studying a specific author, you’d best be prepared to do a lot of running around.

Finally, let’s talk about actually having the required books in stock. I showed up at school on Monday, Jan. 4 with the intentions of buying my textbooks and being done with this circus. However, when I went to go pick up the texts for my final course, I realized that two were already out of stock. After briefly losing my mind trying to find them, I realized that the bookstore had managed to under-stock some of the books in a class of less than ten people. It was either leave empty-handed, or at least buy the e-book for one of the texts. I did not buy the e-book because no person in their right mind would rather read their book on a laptop or computer.

But not everything has to be gloom and doom! There are ways to save money and your sanity! As an English student, I’ve been in the position of always having to buy all my textbooks because of obvious reasons (you kind of need to read all the stories…). However, fellow student, you might not have to do this. When I take courses outside of my major, I normally try to wait until I’ve been to class a couple times before I purchase a textbook. This way, you can gauge how much you might actually need the text, if you even need it at all. I’ve had a number of classes where I’ve made the mistake of buying up all my textbooks before realizing that, oops, I definitely do not need that 300 pound textbook that cost me months’ worth of food and alcoholic beverages… Finally, check your local library. You know, those places that loan out books to people? They actually still exist, even with the internet controlling us like marionettes. Maybe you’ll get lucky and find your textbook there and borrow it when you need it for class or to make the notes you need. If you absolutely need to buy all of the books on your list, well then, I’ll be waiting in The Owl for you. Come have a drink and talk it out – unless the bookstore robbed you of all your cash. I’m not buying.