Online Book Exchange Closes for Now

Improvements and changes are being made to the Utah State University Online Book Exchange after it was shut down two weeks ago.

The book exchange is a Web site that allows students to post their used textbooks online and sell them at their own price.

Gary Chambers, new interim vice president of Student Services, said rather than allowing the hardware or software to fail unexpectedly, the Online Book Exchange was shut down.

During the past two years, the software behind the book exchange Web site has generated errors and caused user inconvenience, he said.

Roberto Mello, a graduate student studying computer science, voluntarily maintains the Web site. A new book exchange should be available in a couple of weeks, he said. Improvements will be made to make it easier to use.

Matt Ekins, Associated Students of USU student advocate, said, "It wasn't the most opportune time -- two weeks after school started -- for this to happen."

Mello said, "The bookstore has its reasons to want the exchange site out of its server. It incurs maintenance. It was somewhat unreasonable of them to pull the plug on the site so abruptly, though. A couple weeks notice and I could have gotten a new site up somewhere else."

As part of a project for the System Design and Implementation class, Ekins and other students have proposed to take part in restoring the Online Book Exchange and expanding the services. Future student interns will maintain the site.

Camey Hatch, ASUSU Public Relations vice president, said, "Basically our goal is to make it more user-friendly for students."

The book exchange will become an online venue. Aside from exchanging books, students will be able to use the Web site as a ride board and a place to sell contracts, vehicles and other items, said Jay McEntire, ASUSU webmaster.

Hatch plans on having the book exchange linked to the A-station Web site and hopes to have the changes made before the end of the semester.

Previously, the book exchange was run on a Linux system. Linux is an operating system, like Windows. It is an open-source software. It can be used free of charge and studied and modified by anyone, Mello said.

Hatch said, "We're trying to find a more permanent site for it. We have a site located; we just have to make a few more changes."

David Hansen, director of the USU Bookstore, said, "The book exchange functioned for years and has been very popular with the students."

However, the Web site is not monitored by the bookstore, so students can sell any textbook, whether it is being used anymore or not.

Kevin Kerr, assistant director of the USU Bookstore, said, "We wanted to help students buy the right books. But we didn't monitor it in any way. We had a disclaimer explaining that we are not involved. It's sort of a buyer beware because we don't even look at it."

Hansen said, "We don't determine the value of the book but we provide the server."

Mello said students often contacted the bookstore with questions about the book-exchange site, despite a notice on the site saying it was an unmoderated venue.

The book exchange has been running for several years. In Spring 2000, Mello began maintaining the Web site.

Before that time, the book exchange suffered several shortcomings, making it difficult to use. Books were listed in one huge page and students had to create one login for every book they posted. The site was not used very much back then, Mello said.

After the upgrade, usage of the Web site grew to the point that it was receiving thousands of visitors at the beginning and end of each semester, Mello said.

By Marie MacKay; mmackay@cc.usu.edu