Syllabus week is now past us, and I’m sure most of your syllabi had a section titled something like “Books You Need” — a section which likely included detailed guidance on how these books are available for purchase at some bookstore, e-retailer, or secondhand. While your professor was going through the syllabus, they probably explained why this bordering triple digits book required your imminent purchase for optimal success in the class. You’re sitting there listening to this convincing speech, rapidly searching for these books and adding them to your cart so they can arrive before the next class. Well, before you click checkout, let’s think for a second. Why is material, specifically information we need for class, pay-walled and thus not freely accessible?
Yes, sometimes the school provides the books we need for free through the Rush Rhees Library (whether this resource is truly free given the ever-increasing tuition to go here is debatable, but I digress). However, with the one to two hours limit for reserving such books, it becomes a chore as the semester goes on. Some students simply cannot finish the required reading within that window of time, and if another student also needs that book at the same time, access becomes even more difficult. Some books are available digitally through the library for students to access anywhere, but why is this not applicable to all class-required books? With e-libraries, like Libby, online availability increases accessibility. Why is that same system not being brought into the University on a larger scale so students are not burdened by exorbitant textbook costs? An electronic system is much more feasible than buying hundreds of copies of the same books so every student can get one for the semester, and it removes the issues of losing or damaging the books. The University has sufficient means to make this a reality.
Now, I get it. To support authors and their work, you need to buy their books. However, when buying and reading these books is imperative for getting a good grade or even having a chance at passing the class, is it a reasonable expectation for students to have to choose between doing well in a class and paying hundreds of dollars? It doesn’t make sense that college, and any educational institution for that matter, makes learning inaccessible and relies on means outside of a person’s ability to learn.
This is where piracy comes in. I believe college students have a “Get Out of Jail Free” card when it comes to pirating books. If students cannot afford books, the choice is between pirating and not learning. The choice is clear — pirate those books. People do it for various mediums throughout the world, and especially students when it comes to books. Despite the Internet growing rapidly, companies and organizations hold academic literature behind paywalls that prevent information from public access. Which leads to people turning towards piracy.
Piracy is not without ethical concerns, especially when the works in question are those of small independent authors (although textbooks rarely are). Regardless of these concerns, however, piracy is largely impossible to stop. If the school is concerned about textbook companies getting paid, the best way that can assure that is by paying them. If a textbook is pricing itself at 80 dollars and their main demographic is clearly broke college students, who’s being unethical now? If your moral compass is spinning even thinking about pirating your books for class, just blame the University. If they can’t provide materials that we need for the classes we pay for, then honestly, it’s their fault.
