Some local bookstores think that when it comes to solving the problem of textbook affordability, the Florida Legislature is not on the right page.
A state law that went into effect July 1 requires professors to provide textbook ISBN numbers 30 days before the first day of class, giving students time to find the best deals.
Friday was the deadline to post information for the fall semester.
But Tom Rider, an owner of Goerings Book Store, said he thinks the new law will make it harder for students to find books locally, let alone pay for them.
Rider said UF has interpreted the law to mean that professors have to post textbook information on the university's Web site, which alerts all bookstores of professors' requests and posts the information on ISIS for students.
In the past, Rider said, professors would place orders with his store and tell students to buy their books there, which let Rider know how many books to order.
Rider said now that all stores can see the orders on the Web site, there is no telling which stores students will choose and therefore no way to know how many books he, or his competitors, should order.
He cannot communicate with other stores either because he could be accused of making illegal agreements, he said.
He said he will not place full orders for professors who post information on the UF Web site.
Provost Joe Glover wrote that UF policy has historically been to use the UF Web site to post information, and that will continue to be the policy.
Ken Roberts, president of Orange and Blue Textbooks, said the changes will affect upper-division courses that have small class sizes most because their books are often hard to find.
Bookstores spend a lot of time getting those orders in, Roberts said, but because so few students use those books and there is no guarantee where students will spend their money, it is no longer in the interest of stores to find those rare books.
"Those books can't be found online, so those kids are screwed," he said.
Roberts, Rider and Lynne Vaughn, director of the UF Bookstore, said if legislators wanted to lighten the burden on students' wallets, they would have regulated packages that force students to buy unnecessary materials.
Those packages often include Internet access codes to online programs that expire every semester, meaning stores can't buy the books back and students are forced to buy new editions, Roberts said.
"No one has the nerve to dig into the marrow of the problem, so it's not going to be solved," he said.
About 26 percent of class sections do not have textbook information listed yet, according to the UF textbook affordability Web site.
Glover wrote in an e-mail that some professors probably haven't heard about the new law.
Professors who have not posted their information will be reminded in the fall, he wrote.
The law will be enforced by UF in the spring, he wrote, but the penalty has not been decided.
UF history professor Steven Noll posted his textbook information on Goerings' Web site.
He said he has a good relationship with the store, and he won't post information on the UF Web site.
"If I do that, it will give all the other book sellers access to what I'm using," Noll said.
