I took an Earth Planetary Science class this past semester where the textbook cost around $100. Instead of just buying it off Amazon like I had done for my other classes, I visited the Earth Planetary Science library to see if the textbook was available. They didn’t have a copy I could take home; however, they told me that the Engineering Library did.

So, I went to the Engineering Library and checked out the textbook. I thought I would have it for a week or so and order my copy of the textbook online, using the library copy until my copy arrived. However, to my surprise the librarian told me the book was due back in a month.

So, instead of buying a copy of the book I used the library’s copy for one month and renewed it for another month once it was due. I ended up doing this four times for the semester and returned it at the end of the year, saving me the $100 it would have cost to buy the book myself.

In addition, the library had a reference copy so if anyone wanted to see the book during this time period, the library had one for them to browse.

From: Sophomore at UC Berkeley