Online book swap set up by students

Jennifer Guckert

dm Staff writer

As technology becomes more advanced many more people are using the World Wide Web to shop. Every day more things are becoming available for purchase on the Internet. It is now possible to shop at a virtual mall or bid on an item during an Internet auction. People with collections use the Internet as a resource for trading their possessions. Many students around the country are using the Internet to buy and sell their textbooks.

Some students at Ole Miss have joined the web shoppers by selling and buying their textbooks over the Internet at the web site HYPERLINK http://www.bookswap.com/olemiss.

Jason Wilkins, a political science major, set up the web site in conjunction with the Pi Sigma Alpha honor society.

" Every year during the student elections the idea has come up for students to get names of people and sell their books," Wilkins said.

Wilkins looked at other SEC web pages and saw a book swap at the University of Kentucky.

"The book swap was already there and had many colleges using it," Wilkins said. "I just configured it for the students at Ole Miss to use. It was easy, anyone could have done it."

Students have already begun using the service.

" I sent an email to 500 people telling them about the book swap and within three hours there were 14 books posted by 5 different people," Wilkins said.

Leslie Aldridge, a senior interior design major, thinks that the book swap is a good idea.

"All of the books listed on the web site are cheaper to buy than they are at the bookstores around town. Although I don't have any more books to buy, I am going to sell my books here at the end of the semester," Aldridge said.

There are currently 5115 books listed on the book swap web page, and 19 of these books were posted by Ole Miss students. This web site is free for anyone to use. Wilkins already sold one book.

" This web site makes textbooks cheaper for everyone and lets people make more money on their books," he said.