A Report on the Feasibility of Textbook Rental - IBHE

Textbook Selection. While acknowledging that colleges and universities may not assignfaculty, particularly adjunct faculty, to courses until shortly before classes begin, to the extentpossible, the deadline for textbook selection could be moved up and more strongly enforced tohelp ensure used books are available for purchase. According to one community college, facultymembers submitted only 20 percent of their book orders on time to meet the bookstore deadline,and another estimated that only 30 percent of orders were submitted on time (InstitutionalResponses to IBHE Survey 2006). One Illinois public university responded to IBHE survey asfollows:More than 90% of orders received by the [on campus] bookstore come in well past thepreferred due dates. Anywhere from 23 – 40 [percent] of adoptions, depending on thesemester, are not submitted to the [on campus] bookstore indicating either that no books areordered for the class or that the instructor places a text order with a store or source other thanthe [institution]. This prevents the bookstore from searching out the largest supply of usedtextbooks from all possible sources (Institution Response to IHBE Survey 2006).A deadline would allow the institution to post publicly a list of course materials withISBN numbers, the universal book identifier, in a timely manner. Effective communicationamong the bookstore and faculty members would assist in meeting the deadline. This alternativewould have no fiscal impact on the State or to the institutions.Public List. A list of course materials, including authors, titles, ISBNs, new textbookprices, and used textbook prices, could be compiled and made public 60 days prior to thebeginning of classes. This would allow ample time for students to do comparison shopping.Providing a finalized list 60 days prior to the beginning of class is dependent up the timelysubmission of course materials by all faculty members.In addition, if requested by the students, institutions, through syllabi or bookstoreinformation sheets, could advise students on how editions vary. If variation between editions isminimal, students could purchase used copies of prior editions. This is dependent upon thepublishers advising faculty members in writing on how editions vary. According to theAssociation of American Publishers, this information is widely available online and in theforewords of texts (Association of American Publishers response to draft 2007).While potentially a cost saver for students, the public list alternative could have negativefinancial consequences for other entities. First, it could lead to a loss of revenue for institutionsas more students obtained their textbooks from off-campus sources. Second, it could havenegative consequences for on-campus and off-campus bookstores if students were to purchasemore textbooks online. Third, this alternative could have negative fiscal consequences for thestate as an increase in online purchases could affect sales tax revenue and, in the case of noninstitutionalbookstores, corporate income tax.The growing number of students choosing to purchase textbook materials through theinternet will affect sales taxes. In the 1992 case of Quill Corporation v. North Dakota, the U.S.Supreme Court ruled that whether a state may require an out-of-state retailer to collect and remittax on its sales to that state’s residents depends upon whether the out-of-state retailer hassufficient nexus with that state. It is possible that some out-of-state retailers will lack the nexusthat would require them to collect and remit Illinois Use Tax on sales to their Illinois purchasers.In this situation, however, the Illinois purchasers will still incur Use Tax liability on theirpurchases of out of state textbooks and would have a duty to self-assess their Use Tax liabilityand remit the amount directly to the Department. Generally, purchasers remit these taxes on an-43-