Students could purchase cheaply-priced books at a new online store, but the company creator said he is having difficulty getting his foot in MSU's front door.
MyCollegeBookTrader.com is a new online store that business co-owner, Sean Marconi said "is meant to help students out."
"We just opened this semester and we have set up online stores for Oakland University, University of Michigan, Western Michigan University, Central Michigan University and MSU," Marconi said.
"This is different than other online bookstores because we are localizing the situation."
The system allows students to set up an account and search for the availability of books on their respective campuses.
"Every time a student sets up an account, they get two of the books for free," Marconi said.
"This way the student is not getting ripped off by selling textbooks back and will get more money back than what a bookstore gives them."
He added that a student can also trade books with other students. Message boards are set up so students are able to contact each other and see if students are interested in trading their books for other books.
Marconi said the company is trying to get the word on the street about the company before students begin to sell their books back but said there have been problems at MSU and U-M.
"When stores begin selling books to students they need a book list that says what books are needed for what class," Marconi said.
"According to U-M's and MSU's Freedom of Information officers, they could not give us that list. We can get the lists from Central and Western Michigan and Oakland but not the other two."
Both officers were unable to be reached for comment, but an employee at the Student Book Store, or SBS, on Grand River Avenue in East Lansing said the store obtains the book lists from separate departments in the university rather than collectively.
"The department secretaries e-mail each list to all the major bookstores in the area," said Erin McGowin, a customer services representative for SBS.
"There is no contract and it is not through the university. It's not that bad of a business."
Donna Landon, the graduate and undergraduate secretary at the department of French, Classics and Italian, said the procedure is pretty simple and always done through the departments.
"Sometimes the faculty order themselves online or I do it myself," Landon said.
"We have such a small department that it never has been that big a deal to write the list myself."
Landon added that the online company could ask for the list from her department, but it doesn't necessarily mean every book would be on the list because some faculty members create their own book lists.
"If they called here and asked it would be hard to get that list because it wouldn't be a complete list," Landon said.
"When I submit them, it goes to Spartan Bookstore and from there to other bookstores. There are some faculty that want their lists to go specifically to SBS."
