University of Virginia (UVA) is home to more than 20,000 students per year. It is a high quality public university, ranking highly on many academic ranking polls such as the U.S News and World Report Rankings for public universities. The university offers 51 Bachelor’s degrees, 84 Master’s degrees and 57 Doctoral degrees; and not surprisingly, all of these students require textbooks. The UVA Bookstore, located at 400 Emmet St., South, Charlottesville, Virginia, offers several textbook options for students including new and used books for purchase, rentals and e-textbooks. This article will help guide UVA students unfamiliar with buying textbooks and discuss in detail what options exist outside of the UVA campus.
Students can choose to visit the UVA Bookstore on campus or visit the website to order books online. Students can buy new or used books, rent a textbook for the semester or rent an e-textbook through the Jumpbooks program. The UVA Bookstore also appears to have a separate “Virtual Bookstore”, which is powered via a 3rd-party called MBS Direct, that offers a nicely designed and elegant interface for UVA students to use. There does not seem to be a clear recommendation on which avenue UVA students should take in order to acquire their textbooks, but at least there are a couple different options open for them to try. If you are a UVA student, let us know where you get your textbooks at in the comments section!
Here is a quick video showcasing the interior of the UVA Bookstore:
Etextbooks procured by the UVA Bookstore are cheaper than traditional textbooks and offer convenience since the textbook’s file can be accessed from any computer or even on a mobile device while at a local coffee shop, for instance. E-textbooks also have advanced search features/capabilities, and students have the option to print pages if desired. Students should visit the UVA Bookstore or website to find out which textbooks are available in e-textbook format since not all titles are available in this way.
The UVA Bookstore also offers a convenient online buy back program. Students can visit UVA bookstore website and access the online buyback program to create a quote. The student must create an account, enter the ISBN numbers for all books he or she wishes to sell and then enter his or her Paypal account information. The student then prints a pre-paid shipping label to return the books without having to visit the bookstore. The money for the books is paid through Paypal.
(Picture by Bill McChesney)
Other Options Are Also Available
Students also have the option of purchasing textbooks through an independent book retailer. The Barnes and Noble in Charlottesville, located at 1035 Emmet St. Suite A, Charlottesville, Virginia, is a nearby alternative to the UVA bookstore. Barnes and Noble offers many of the same options as the UVA campus bookstore including online or in store textbook purchase, rental, buyback, e-textbooks, etc..
The Student Bookstore, located at 1515 University Avenue, Charlottesville, Virginia, is a privately owned local bookstore that offers both new and used textbooks for sale and rent; offering a great alternative for UVA students to get their school books. Students can visit the website at http://www.studentbook.com/ to search for the textbooks they need at UVA, or other neighboring colleges!