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| Yes | 38% | 14 votes | Total: 37 votes | |
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Add to FavoritesDuring my over forty years of college teaching there were times when I resold complimentary copies of textbooks and times when I didn't. For me, it was primarily an ethical issue, but not always one that was easy to determine.
Before this question can be fairly answered, several additional pieces of information must be obtained. First, did the faculty member request the book copy? This is important, because if so, the assumption is that the faculty member is considering adopting this book for a course and wishes to examine it to see if it would be an appropriate text. If the faculty member had not requested the copy, it is unlikely the textbook would have been sent. If the faculty member has requested the textbook, I do not believe it is ethical to resell it. In this instance, the faculty member has received something free on the basis of his/her position.
On the other hand, if the book publisher arbitrarily mails multiple copies of a new textbook to hundreds of faculty members on a list and the copy of the book is not requested, then I believe this textbook is comparable to junk mail and faculty members are free to do whatever they want with the bookgive it away, use it, throw it out, or sell it. Publishers who decry the resale of comp textbooks might consider being more discriminating about whom they send their complimentary copies to.
A second question concerns who actually benefits from complimentary textbooks. Believe me, faculty members are not making a bundle from reselling comp textbooks. Who is? Textbook publishers, that's who. Publishers more than recoup what they might lose on distributing comp textbooks that are not adopted, by selling to the students of the the faculty who do adopt the textbook. When just one faculty member adopts a textbook for a course that enrolls even 100 students a semester, if that book is used for several years, that's 400 textbooks sold at a minimum, and with the cost of textbooks soaring, most publishers can well afford to send comp books to every faculty in a target department at multiple institutions. In my teaching experience, I received free textbooks for courses that I not only did not teach but wasn't even qualified to teach. Publishers seem to care very little about sending comp textbooks to appropriate faculty members. This sort of gunshot approach to marketing tells me that textbook publishers are not worried about the expense of distributing large numbers of comp textbooks. If just one out of a thousand complimentary textbooks interests just one faculty member and prompts them to adopt it, the publishers can easily recoup their promotional expenses.
Finally, the number of complimentary textbooks any one faculty member accumulates during the course of a career is not all that large. When I retired two years ago, I gathered together all my comp textbooks that were gathering dust on my office bookshelves and sold them to my friendly book reseller. I think from my over forty year career there were about fifteen books and I made around $25.00. Wow!
Learn more about this author, Patricia Rockwell.
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No
There's no easy answer to this question of whether faculty should sell books that publishers give them for free. I base my "no" answer on experience. I am a university professor. I sold several books I received free from publishers and felt a little slimed.
I can't put my finger on why, but I think I took advantage of publishers' honest attempts to market their books and cheated authors out of their royalities. I sold something I did not earn. I also think my unease had to do with missed opportunities to do something good for someone else.
Maybe the book buyer felt a little sleazy, too, and we affected each other. Because of that slimy feeling, I will never sell free books again.
When publishers give away books, I believe they are making an honest attempt to market their books. They want me and people like me to take at look at their products and buy them for courses I teach. They may also hope that I'll tell other instructors about the book.
Book authors hope that giving away copies will increase sales. Not only does this affirm the worth of their efforts, but they also earn money from royalties, two big boosts to morale.
Selling something freely offered feels dishonest. Sure, publishers don't lose money when they give me a book. The price of the books they sell takes into account the copies they hand out. Authors lose money, though. Writing books is hard work, harder than I ever would have thought until I started writing them myself. It seems out of whack that I would make money on a free copy and the authors who put in hard labor do not. If feels as if I am taking advantage of both authors and publishers. In short, the book is not mine to sell.
Now, I give free books away when I don't need or want them. For example, this summer, a publisher sent me two copies of a text book that I already had and had ordered for a course I was teaching. I told a colleague about have these two extra books. She said, "I want one." I gave it to her. She is teaching a pre-requisite for the course I teach. I was glad she now is familiar with the book I use that builds on the course she teaches.
I gave the second book to a social service agency whose work is in the areas that the book covers. The case managers in that agency now have an excellent reference. The next time another professional diagnoses a child with oppositional disorder, for example, they can refer to the text to see descriptions that professional groups have endorsed.
In the future, I will also give these free books to libraries, set them out on a table in the departmental lobby and label them "free," or will hold a lottery for students.
I don't like feeling as if I profited from someone else's labor. My position as a faculty member and potential buyer does not entitle me to do this. I like feeling as if I have done something for other people.
Learn more about this author, Jane Gilgun.
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