We're not talking about the stupid purple cow. We're talking about online booklists.

Each semester, students amble off campus to the town of Amherst's quaint bookstores. Some students purchase their books on the spot, while others copy down titles and ISBNs. Some students have the good fortune of finding their books on the first try; some learn that they have visited the wrong bookstore for half of their courses or the books are absurdly expensive; and still others discover that their books have already been sold out and will not be restocked until after the first few reading assignments are due-it's the big bi-annual craps shoot.

As one of our senatorial projects for the Association of Amherst Students, we are asking the administration to integrate booklists into the existing online course catalog as professors generate them. We don't know why this hasn't been done before-whether due to active opposition or simply a lack of technological capability-but we hope that it can be implemented before next semester begins.

We think that this is a worthwhile project because with the already-high cost of attending Amherst, an extra $200-$400 per semester for books can be a real burden. That cost may be decreased by giving students the information they need to compare prices and bargain hunt. Students who want to get a jump on buying books before classes begin must currently visit at least one of the bookstores in town. And since professors give their booklists to only one store, the stores monopolize the market and have no incentive to provide globally competitive pricing.

We understand the importance of supporting local businesses, but where we spend our money should be our decision. Many students, especially first-years, will still choose to purchase their books in town-the stores will still do brisk business. The online booklists could even indicate where in town the books will be stocked. A lot of students already buy books online and will continue; it's just a matter of when we have the information to do it.

Those of us who choose to exercise frugality shouldn't get the fuzzy end of the lollipop and fall behind on our readings while we're waiting for our books to arrive from an online bookseller. Putting booklists online will allow students to make sure they have their books in hand before the first day of classes. This isn't even guaranteed by the town bookstores because they often don't order books in time or in sufficient quantities. Each of the authors of this column is enrolled in one class just this semester for which the bookstores did not have certain course books by the first day of class or ran out almost immediately.

Furthermore, without a comprehensive booklist direct from professors, students don't know if the bookstores have complete and accurate lists, or if there are books required for a particular class at all. We are left wandering from store to store wondering what books we need. If there is a miscommunication between professors and stores that isn't caught until students look at syllabi, the necessary materials aren't even ordered until after classes have begun (this has happened to one of us).

Convenience is another advantage of online booklists. The first few weeks of each semester are hectic, and online purchases can be made at students' leisure. Another perk is direct delivery to the Campus Center mail room, which students frequent daily.

One of the College's major responsibilities is to its students. We shouldn't have to deplete our summer savings in the first two weeks of classes or work 43 hours at the on-campus pay-rate of $7 per hour to purchase $300 worth of books when there is a more economical option. We deserve the chance to explore our options with enough time to make a responsible decision as to how we spend our money.

Of course textbooks are more expensive than novels, plays and poems, so the students who take math and science courses are continually bombarded with $400 book bills. Because they are so expensive, those purchases are also where the biggest savings can be found. For example, in one computer science course this semester, there is a $50 difference between the price of a new book in town and the price of the same new book readily available from an online store. In a math course taught this semester, there's a $40 differential in the price of identical new textbooks. That's a combined savings of over 50 percent.

There are many clear advantages to putting booklists online. A major obstacle used to be lack of an appropriate means of communication between professors and students before the semester began. The sophisticated new course scheduling program implemented last year by the Registrar's Office seems to us to be the perfect solution to this problem. The program has huge capabilities already, like course selection by professor, department and schedule, so surely it could include a section of required texts for each course. This section could be added as soon as the professors have prepared their selections, even if that doesn't happen until a few weeks before the semester begins.

With incoming classes increasingly dependent upon information technology, this move is the next logical step.

Until then, here's hoping we'll have all of our books by mid-semester break.

Serrill-Robins can be reached

at mrserrillrobins@amherst.edu

Rothschild can be reached

at jirothschild@amherst.edu