Even though the options for UW-Madison students in the textbook market have grown in recent years, drastic changes in how and where books are bought are hard to find.
Underground Textbook Exchange, 664 State St., started in May 1999, was the first alternative to University Book Store for Madison students. Sales have continued to increase, according to the store's co-owner, Troy Gerkey.
\I think students were extremely excited at first just to have some competition,"" Gerkey said. ""But I think a bit of reality has set in that we obviously can't come in and sell books at a huge discount and buy books at tons more than University [Book Store].""
Both Gerkey and Pat McGowan, vice president of University Book Store, said the prices of the stores are generally similar. In addition, McGowan said the University Book Store has ""not really changed"" its methods or pricing as a result of competition.
Another alternative to traditional bookstores is on-line book trading. Last semester, UW-Madison sophomore Josh Mateffy founded MadtownBooks.com, an on-line book swap service. He said about 600 books have been listed on the Web site this semester and 60 percent of those have sold.
That method is economically the best for students, according to the vice president of University Book Store.
""Quite honestly, the best way for students to get the best deal they can is to trade the books amongst themselves,"" McGowan said.
But recently, the trend of on-line book selling has fizzled, according to Gerkey.
""Two or three years ago it was going to be the hot new thing, but it's kind of fallen by the wayside,"" he said. ""I just read somewhere that 90 percent of textbooks are bought through traditional booksellers.""
Since none of these book-selling operations are part of UW-Madison, not even University Book Store, they all must solicit departments and individual professors for book lists, a sometimes-difficult endeavor.
""Believe me, there's a few instructors out there that I'd really like to send them a nice letter from my lawyer saying, 'You have no choice but to give me this information,'"" Gerkey said.
In other cases, such as that of Canterbury Booksellers Coffeehouse Inn, 315 W. Gorham St., professors actually contact the store, according to its owner, Trudy Barash.
But for now, the system does not appear to be transforming.
""We could probably, if we wanted to, pressure and challenge the university and make them somehow come up with a public book list,"" Gerkey said. ""But if we did that, there's a chance that three other book stores may open up on State Street and we may lose business. It's sort of a can of worms.\
