How to Share Textbooks with Your ASU Study Group (Legally)
Sharing textbooks with classmates can cut your costs in half. Here's how to do it effectively and what's actually legal.
You Don't Have to Each Buy Your Own Copy
Here's something professors won't advertise but completely legal: sharing a physical textbook with one or more classmates. It's not a workaround or a gray area — owning a physical book and lending it is completely legal. Publishers can't control what you do with a book after you buy it.
The challenge is making shared textbook arrangements actually work. Here's how.
The Basic Shared Copy Model
Two or three students split the cost of one used copy. You set up a sharing schedule based on when each person needs it — reading days, homework nights, and exam prep.
This works best when:
- Class schedules are staggered (you're in different sections of the same course)
- The textbook is used primarily for reading, not for lab work or hands-on exercises
- The group is small (2–3 people max) and you trust each other
Where to find a shared copy? ASU List. Post a "looking for" note and mention you're splitting with classmates — sellers sometimes lower the price for a quick sale even if they know it's a shared arrangement.
Schedule the Book Like a Resource
Don't just agree to share and wing it. Create a simple weekly schedule:
- Who has the book Sunday through Wednesday?
- Who gets it Thursday through Saturday?
- What happens during midterm and finals weeks?
A shared Google Calendar with the textbook "checked out" to different people works perfectly for this. Takes five minutes to set up, prevents two people showing up to a study session expecting to use the book.
Photographing Relevant Pages: What's Legal
This comes up constantly: can you photograph chapters to read on your phone?
US copyright law includes a concept of fair use that allows limited copying for personal, educational, non-commercial use. Photographing a few chapters for personal study falls into a genuinely gray area — courts have generally been sympathetic to educational fair use, especially for out-of-print or unavailable material.
More clearly legal: the campus library's course reserves. Your professor can place one or two copies of a textbook on reserve, and you can check it out for 2–4 hour windows. For reading specific assignments, this is a completely legitimate alternative to owning the book.
Study Rooms in Coor Hall and Brickyard
ASU has reservable study rooms in multiple buildings. Coor Hall's library floors have rooms available for small groups. The Brickyard at 7th Street and Apache has student collaboration spaces. The Memorial Union has group study tables.
If you share a textbook, build your study sessions around accessing it together rather than trying to shuttle a physical book across campus. Group study with a shared copy is more efficient anyway — you can talk through chapters rather than reading in isolation.
Digital Sharing: What Works and What Doesn't
Sharing a digital textbook access code is a different situation. Publisher license agreements for access codes typically prohibit sharing a single account with multiple students. If you violate those terms, the publisher can revoke access.
This doesn't mean digital is always worse for group study. If the library has digital access to a book, multiple students can read it simultaneously through the library's license. That's the legitimate version.
The Practical Limits
Sharing works well for courses where the textbook is used for reading and studying, not for turn-in workbooks or lab manuals (which have one-time-use components).
It also requires a study group you actually trust. A textbook-sharing arrangement that falls apart at midterms because your partner needs the book for a week straight is worse than just buying separately. Be realistic about your group's reliability before committing.
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