BookMarket: Book Exchange for SIMS Students

Contact Us:

• Mary Trombley - Group Manager and Documentation Manager
  maryt@sims.berkeley.edu
• Shirley Chan - Evaluation Manager
  schan@sims.berkeley.edu
• Susanne Eklund - Design Manager
  seklund@sims.berkeley.edu

     Or, send email to our entire group.

Project Summary

     New textbooks for SIMS courses are costly, and textbook buyback services do not offer much money for used books. Many SIMS students have textbooks from previous classes that they would like to sell, but they do not currently have an easy way to connect with potential buyers. Sellers may email class lists to attempt to find a buyer; sellers may solicit upperclassmen who may or may not have books to sell. This method is annoying and not highly effective since the majority of email recipients are not interested in either buying or selling.

     We propose to design an online book exchange interface for SIMS students to buy or sell used textbooks and class materials. For project purposes, we plan to focus the system on the SIMS community. If expanded, this project could be used to serve the entire Berkeley community. This system will exist to put buyers and sellers in touch with each other; it will not facilitate on-line auctions or currency exchange. The system will not help sellers get the highest prices, but it may facilitate price comparisons. Sellers will be allowed to list a suggested price and whether or not he or she is willing to bargain. We plan to have our site linked from a portal page such as Simians or the SIMS departmental page.