Library Course Reserves
All campuses have a “Course Reserve” option at their libraries. Faculty can put required course materials into the Course Reserves system and students can check out those materials for a limited block of time, typically three hours. Ask your professor is he/she has put a set of course materials on reserve. If not, you can try to explain that buying the books would case economic hardship and ask your professor if he/she can put a set of books on reserve.
Electronic Reserves
While the library reserves are for hard copies, there is also an e-reserves system for electronic documents. Professors put articles or sections of books online in .pdf format and they can be downloaded for free.
Zoomassbooks.com
Zoomassbooks began in January 2006 for students to buy and sell books directly to each other. Students can search for books by title, author or ISBN number. All Five College students can use the site, but only UMass students can search by course name or department. Students list their used books for sale and are paired with other students who search for that book. Selling books through this site yields more money than using bookstore buyback programs, and buying books through the site often costs much less than used book prices at bookstores. There is usually no shipping fee since you are buying from someone on campus.
