Creating an Online Textbook Marketplace

Abstract

This paper looks at a collaborative project – between the University of Liverpool Library and the Liverpool Guild of Students – to create an online textbook marketplace known as ‘Pass the Book’. This partnership between the Guild of Students and the Library staff used new technologies to deliver a platform that benefits students and the Library, while reinforcing the good relationship we both enjoy. The aim of this service is to allow students to sell or give away their old textbooks to other students and, hopefully, to create a cyclical giving-and-receiving of core textbooks between them. The paper also looks at the formation of the project group, the construction and evolvement of the service and our learning experiences, all against the background of student fees.