If you’ve taught for even one semester, especially if you decide what textbook to use in your class, then you are aware of the mixed blessing that is the desk/review copy. On the one hand, free (or massively discounted) books! On the other hand, so . . . many . . . books. Eventually the novelty of getting books fades before the avalanche of books–many of which you may not want. And then one day, the book buyback guy shows up at your door, offering to take some of the excess off your hands for a little bit of cash.
Last night on Twitter, Dave Richeson & G. Michael Guy asked a question that is hard to answer simply: What is it legal or ethical to do with the torrent of books? This is an outstanding question that’s hard to answer simply. Here are some initial observations–although I’d be glad to hear of good solutions to this problem. [Update: More accurately described the provenance of the conversation.]
- Do you teach at a state university? If so, then you need to check with your state and university ethics regulations to see how they apply. After all, desk copies and review copies are a model of a benefit that accrues due to your position. Me, I rarely teach with anything much more expensive than a Dickens novel, which are pretty inexpensive. If you teach in a science or business or math department, then the dynamic probably changes, as those textbooks cost real money.
- A book that you paid for is, I think, fair game to re-sell, give away, or use for insulation, even you got it at a discount. Free books–especially free books you requested, are a bit stickier.
- The widespread dumping of review copies–and their instant reappearance in the used market–probably impacts textbook economics in two ways: It deprives authors of royalties, and it inflates textbook prices.
- I have heard, from sources I trust, of cases where faculty (mostly, but by no means exclusively, part-timers) explicitly use the re-selling of review copies as a revenue stream. By this I mean requesting copies that they have no intention of using, specifically in order to re-sell ‘em. That seems pretty hard to defend. (Though, frankly, most part-time faculty are treated so shabbily that I’m also not looking to judge anyone.)
A few things you can do:
- If you didn’t ask for the book–if a zealous marketing rep sent you a copy for free–then it’s probably safe to re-sell it or give it away.
- You can also write the rep directly and ask to be taken off any “automatically gets a free copy” list. Then, if they keep sending ‘em to you, the fault is on them.
- There will almost certainly be a book drive on your campus at various points during the year–you could donate the books that way. (George sells the books and donates the money to student groups, which is probably similar.)
- Some faculty use such copies as prizes for in-class competitions. (Be the first to find this and get a free copy of . . . .)
- There are hard questions about whether you can give the books to students in your current class. (How would you choose? Does that introduce a strange dynamic into the professor-student relationship?)
There are various sites offering to buy textbooks from faculty, but I’m not going to link to them because they strike me as sketchy. Open-source textbooks still haven’t quite arrived yet in most disciplines, but you have to figure that their day is coming soon.
How do you get rid of unwanted desk copies?
Special note: Never forget: Ask on Twitter, or in Open Thread Wednesday, and we’ll try to get an answer for you!
Image is by Flickr user net_efekt / Creative Commons licensed (It’s not literally a photo of my office–but it could well be!)
Follow Profhacker through your favorite RSS reader: 
Developing online and blended learning programs requires research and collaboration. Learn how top technology companies are partnering with campuses across the country to advance online learning as it becomes an increasingly important aspect of higher education.
17 Responses to Ethically Disposing of Review Copies
Michael Dwyer - January 21, 2010 at 10:38 am
I use extra desk copies of my Film course textbook as course reserve — I leave it with the librarians at our reserve desk so students in my class who can’t afford/don’t want to pay for the textbook can access it for 2 hr stretches.
Jason B. Jones - January 21, 2010 at 10:40 am
That’s smart. I’ve tried donating books to the library, but usually they’re not terribly interested. (Which is understandable: “Wait–you want us to keep books you thought weren’t good enough to use? Seriously?”)
Reserves makes sense.
Brian - January 21, 2010 at 11:07 am
I give unsolicited review copies that I don’t want to the secretary who sells them to the textbook buyer and then puts the money into our coffee/seminar treats slush fund. When I get extra copies of textbooks that we have adopted for courses I give them to the secretary who hands them out to TA’s and graders.
The History Enthusiast - January 21, 2010 at 11:51 am
I am very careful to only ask for exam copies that I’m pretty darn sure I’ll use. That means I only request texts every so often. Usually I look to see if the library’s copy is the most recent edition and then I just browse through that as I consider which texts to assign.
A certain press, though, sends out tons of free copies to everyone in the department, including TAs who have no control over textbooks. Sometimes even the Europeanists and Asianists get copies of American history textbooks, which is just ridiculous. This gets very annoying because then the stack of “free books” in the department’s main office is piled high; in that case, I usually try to sell mine because absolutely no one will take it off my hands.
The concept of asking for free books specifically to re-sell them is extremely unethical in my opinion.
Jason B. Jones - January 21, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Want to say publicly that I have no reason to believe that asking for books to re-sell them is endemic or widespread. Just that it has been known to happen.
(I also want to associate myself with The History Enthusiast’s point about publishers that indiscriminately carpetbomb departments with books. What else are you gonna do, but sell them?)
Tom - January 21, 2010 at 1:52 pm
True story: I asked a publisher for access to the electronic version of their textbook to review the new edition for Fall 2010 and received the permission the next day. They then proceeded to send me two hard copies of the actual textbook. I’m giving them away to students.
Heather - January 21, 2010 at 9:31 pm
What about collecting them and sending them to impoverished universities in other nations? My department occasionally does this and asks for contributions from grad students and faculty.
Mitch Keller - January 21, 2010 at 5:14 pm
I’m sure many of us complain about the cost to our students for the books we have to assign. I’m a mathematician, so $200 for a text is not atypical (calculus runs to this price, others easily in the $125-$150 range). On the surface, faculty selling desk copies doesn’t seem to play a role here. However, think carefully about what happens to our students when faculty sell their desk or review copies that are current editions. The faculty members get a little bit of money. The used book companies get a good chunk of money. The publishers get zero, zippo, nada from that book. At least with used books that come in through buyback and were once bought new, the publishers got something out of selling it the first time around. I don’t know how common selling of desk copies is, but I object to it quite strongly. This cuts into the publishers’ admittedly hefty profits, and they retaliate by upping the costs to the students. They also come out with new editions every four years to defeat the used book market. Calculus hasn’t changed for a long time, but we get a new edition like clockwork every fourth year.
It would probably help matters out (for the publishers) if they didn’t send out so many free copies. I was debating about a new precalculus text this fall and asked for online access. I got an in-person visit from my rep to set it up and FOUR hard copies (two hardback, one softcover, and one binder-ready) in the mail. I wound up adopting the text, so between reserve copies for the library, copies for my TAs, and copies at home and on campus, we made good use of them. However, if I had not adopted it, I’d have four copies of a book I didn’t want. Kind of like I have copies of five review texts I didn’t adopt from another publisher. I asked our textbook coordinator if she’d see if the rep wanted them back, and she told me she knew the rep didn’t want them back.
Shelly Maycock - January 21, 2010 at 2:45 pm
You can donate them to thrift stores who can resell them (often several times) to raise money for charitable uses. I keep some to give to disadvantaged students who need a little more study in some areas.
Nels P. Highberg - January 21, 2010 at 5:36 pm
Twice, I arrived on campus to find five large boxes of books from a particular publisher when I needed thirty copies of one. There were all these other things that the rep wanted me to distribute to our adjuncts, but they didn’t want them. Maybe a couple took a couple, but I had boxes and boxes of books that I ended up piling in the hallway with a sign that said free.
Brendan - January 21, 2010 at 11:46 pm
I don’t want to give undue weight to only one part of your post, but being a math professor seems pretty much incompatible with advocating for the book publishers side in this. The reselling of free copies is generally shady, yes, but what would really help matters for students is if your department (or whoever) stopped requiring the newest edition of a book as soon as it comes out. Many of the best (modern) Calc texts came out decades ago and new ones should be rewarded on their merit, not the scarcity of old editions vs the crate of new ones that just arrived at the school bookstore.
The system is well setup and hard to opt out of, but we should be far more concerned with making sure we are acting ethically and helping our students get the books they need than hefty profits and theoretical price reactions to the used book market.
Brendan - January 22, 2010 at 12:04 am
As a positive contribution to the discussion, I taught for several years at an institution that was the recipient of many donated math textbooks and we actually had the same problem: how to dispose of sometimes complete sets of books we had no interest in. Since we had a small student body whose focus was not usually mathematics, the texts our department used were more for “lending” and we usually got them back at the end of the term. This allowed us to settle on texts we actually liked, but left the problem of what to do with all the textbooks we received but didn’t. We couldn’t afford to ship them back out (very remote) and waste disposal was just the local dump which was burned every month. We mostly ended up using them for things like makeshift whiteboard stands.
My point is, there are many places that will gratefully take your donations and often get less than they need, but please, for the sake of the faculty there, please try and donate books you would want to teach out of yourself. =)
Bob Patterson - January 23, 2010 at 7:11 am
I’m an academic librarian and I also used to review for Library Journal. Almost every review copy I ever received stated that it was a review copy and not for re-sale. On those that did not have a statement I either recycled, kept, or gave away.
If there is no disclaimer in the book then I consider them fair game and will add them to the collection (if they are worth adding) or add them to the sale table.
Knitting Clio - January 25, 2010 at 8:05 am
I agree that it’s unethical to sell review copies to the used book buyers who troll the hallways periodically throughout the semester. I save them up and give them to our secondary education coordinator who gives them to students starting out on their first teaching jobs.
Beth - January 26, 2010 at 1:08 pm
I used to work in a dept where all review copies were gathered up and sold to a book buyer, and all funds went into an emergency cash reserve to give students mini-grants.
This is also a viable, ethical alternative:
http://www.betterworldbooks.com/Info-Books-We-Accept-m-25.aspx
Martha - February 12, 2010 at 8:10 pm
For Bob and others who believed that the stocker saying “Review Copy–Not For Resale” is binding on them–it isn’t. The purpose there is to distinguish those from remaindered/returned books, so that they do not find their way into that stream and wind up costing the publisher.
Short of a written understanding to the contrary between you and the publisher, you have no obligation to treat a review copy provided to you free any differently from a book you cam to own in any other way. It is yours. Do with it what you think best. A local library may not have a use for it–but the Friends of the Library might! It can find an appreciative new owner through their next book sale, or their used book store.
mamamusings - October 25, 2010 at 12:25 pm
At the end of each academic year, I put books that I no longer expect to use in a pile in the hallway, with a sign saying “FREE! Take me!”
Students swarm the pile like ants, and typically every book is gone by the end of the day. I much prefer giving them to students who’ll read and learn from them to selling them back to the professional book-buyers.