January 23, 2003 Student
News
Online
Book Exchange Closes for Now
From
the Utah Statesman
(1/22/03)
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
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