A qiuck Google search returns over a quarter of a million hits on the phrase "textbook rental". Media reports are covering this different business model from every angle. Renting textbooks on campus went from "What?" to "Can we do that?" to "We are going to do it" to "We are doing it" in record time. The major players Follett and Barnes & Noble are making headlines with their programs. Newer players like Chegg are also making a big push.

The practice has become so commonplace at colleges and universitites that the The National Association of College Stores declared 2010 the "Year of Rental"

Of course how all this acitivity will actually benefit any of the students, booksellers, or publishers is stil a big unknown. Even with millions of dollars each being spent each week as students return for the fall term, the long range impacts are still unknown. However, it will probably be very hard to put "the toothpaste back in the tube" if publishers find out they don't like what they find when they look closely at the numbers.

Regardless of what happens on campus, one does have to wonder if the rental idea will happen in any meaningful way in k-12. Will the typical barriers to new thinking prevent such a thing? Will the adoption-granting states and the publishers who win those adoptions snuff out this model before it even has a chance to get started? With more and more parents of public school children being asked to pay higher fees and/or actually buy their student's textbooks, would rental present a good option?

It is very early in the drama, but this is one movie I am certainly going to watch very closely.

Buying textbooks? Renting textbooks? Selling textbooks?

If you have a thought, please share it.