With the rising cost of tuition and the recent economic downturn, students welcome any opportunity to lower their education costs. One considerable expense is textbooks. With that in mind, UMB’s computer science department joined forces with the university’s MassPIRG chapter last semester to develop a website where students can post their used books for sale, as well as search for texts they need.
A group of computer science department students created the website from an older template Professor Kenneth Newman started with an earlier team. The website was previously intended for use by only CS or math majors. It allowed students to post their texts for sale and browse through a database of used books. The site was dormant, however, until a quirk in fate connected the MassPIRG chapter with the CS department.
“There was this old computer server left in our office space, and we were looking to see if any of the departments wanted it. I happened to write an email to one CS faculty to ask if they’d like it and mentioned that we were also interested in starting up an online book exchange,” explained Juliette Lee, MassPIRG internship coordinator. “He quickly referred me to Prof. Newman, who has worked with students on this idea before.” Newman invited the MassPIRG chapter to work with a team of his students to renovate and improve the older site with the intention of launching it to the university community.
“The best thing about this is a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment,” beams CS project leader Rahul Pathak. “There are students that are actually using this and we think that more and more people will use it as word spreads. Ideally, all students would use this to save some money.” Prof. Newman was an invaluable resource for the CS department project team. “He helped us with getting the server where this site is hosted and all the software needed to make this website.” “I am very excited to see the launch of this site,” Newman shares. “My students and I have been working on it for over a year and it is fun to see it up and running and in use.”
Some highlights from the website are and updated news sections from The Mass Media, the ability to directly email students interested in selling their books, as well as links to the faculty directory, UMB web mail, student clubs, and the MassPIRG site. The MassPIRG chapter and Computer Science department hope to see this project expand. “Ultimately, we hope to expand the site so that it becomes a virtual meeting place for the campus. For instance, we plan to add a bulletin board and are thinking of adding a listing for finding roommates. Maybe we’ll even add personals,” Newman kidded.
“The site is a great step to building community on a campus where that can be hard to do,” said MASSPIRG chapter chair Emily Saxton. “And those connections between students can be very valuable.” Don’t think that the plans for the book exchange are limited just to UMass Boston. “We also hope to package the code in a way that other colleges can easily set up similar sites for themselves,” stated Newman.
The online book exchange nearly didn’t happen. The MassPIRG chapter approached the Student Senate about purchasing a domain name for the website. “The idea was to have this site run by students, used by students, and owned by students, which was why we initially approached the Senate,” said Joe Caliri, a MassPIRG volunteer who worked on this last semester. “There were concerns from certain Senators about the legality of this student site violating the bookstore contract.” The chapter got in touch with Forrest Speck, who handles the Follett Bookstore contract. He immediately set up a meeting with the manager of the bookstore, Mitch Walker. Luckily, Walker thought the site was a fine idea. “We’re all about participating and supporting the students in their activities here on campus,” he said. With the deadline to launch the site for the new spring semester approaching and still no funding to purchase a domain name, the Computer Science department graciously agreed to host the site.
The MassPIRG chapter has been working for the past three years to address the expense of textbooks on students. Two years ago, MassPIRG students wrote a report that compared the prices and services provided by online booksellers for textbooks. Last spring, former MassPIRG Chapter Chair Wah Lee looked into initializing an on-campus book exchange. However, logistical road-blocks such as space and handling funds, prevented the idea from going very far. The chapter realized that they needed to go high-tech if this was ever going to work. “I really think it was fate that we had this dinosaur of a server left in our office. If it weren’t for that, we might never have met up with Prof. Newman,” said Juliette Lee. “The collaboration with MassPIRG has been an important ingredient for the site’s success,” notes Newman. “MassPIRG has given us many good ideas, but just as important, we need their energy and expertise to help us publicize the site.”
The Bookswap group plans on improving the site further by working to institutionalize it on campus with the Student Senate’s help. “I am excited that MASSPIRG and the Computer Science department created an online exchange forum that will benefit the entire UMB student Community,” said Acting Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, Tuan Pham. “I hope the Student Senate can have an active role in keeping this service for the future of the school.”