DeKALB | For professors, the textbook selection process is very particular and well-thought-out.

In the math department, a committee is organized to select books for lower-level courses.

“The director of undergraduate studies forms a committee to select books,” said assistant math chair John Wolfskill. “In advanced courses, the decisions are made by the instructor.”

When selecting books, committee members look for a book that suits the class.

“We pay attention to whether it covers topics we want in a way we want,” said associate math professor Joseph Stephen. “How rigorous we want to present the material, for example.”

In the finance department, books are chosen by individual professors.

“It’s academic freedom that faculty members design course content that they feel is appropriate,” said finance chair Richard Dowen. “I look for a book that adequately covers material and style that I feel is appropriate.”

Technology also plays a factor in selecting textbooks. Teachers look for books that have material that allows them to present the topics better in class.

“A lot of these textbooks provide digital media that you can use in class,” said chemistry and biochemistry chair Jon Carnahan.

Professors are aware of how expensive textbooks can be, but book prices are a small factor in their decision.

“In general, textbooks in scientific fields tend to be very expensive,” Stephen said. “We do pay quite a bit of attention to price.”

“If there are two good books and one is $20 cheaper, we would obviously go with the cheaper book,” Stephen said.

Students are often concerned with the buy-back value of a book. Book stores won’t buy back workbooks or older edition textbooks. “With one particular book, the cycle has been compressed to a three-year cycle,” Wolfskill said. “There have been a lot of complaints about that and the publishers start to listen and pushed it back to four.”

Professors aren’t concerned with buy-back values of books.

“Students, particularly at the junior or senior level, should be buying books to add to their professional library,” Dowen said. “Though some of them do, they should not be selling them back.”

There are ways for students to get around these problems. Books are available for purchase on the Internet and some students take advantage of this.

“I got a book or two on Amazon.com,” said junior industrial engineer major Adolfo Rayon. “It’s a lot cheaper than buying at the book stores and I can do it from my apartment.”