Introduction

Whitman Books Online is a platform for buying and selling used textbooks. At every transition between semesters, there’s a rush to offload textbooks from the past semester and buy new ones for the upcoming semester. Currently, this is done through either word of mouth or, more commonly, email listservs within the whitman network. Unfortunately, these are quite inefficient and unreliable systems. Additionally, because buying and selling textbooks happens pretty much only during semester transitions, the event crowds out other items being sold more evenly throughout the school year. Whitman Books Online is a solution to this problem. This unique platform specifically for textbooks aims to diminish the traffic on email listservs during the proverbial textbook rush and create an efficient and pleasant experience for both buyer and seller.