The end of the semester is near, and for many Sacramento State students this means one thing: time to get rid of textbooks.

“It really bothers me to have textbooks laying around, I don’t have the room to keep them,” said Thi Pham, junior engineering major.

Pham said she keeps textbooks regarding her major, but sells her other textbooks.

An alternative option to discarding textbooks is being provided by the Student California Teachers Association, which will be holding a fundraiser book drive from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 17 through 21 in between the University Union and the bookstore.

Rebecca O’Haver, junior liberal studies major and a northern regional vice president of the Student California Teachers Association, said many students and faculty members end up with books that they can not sell back at the end of the semester.

These are books they hope to collect.

“For me sometimes it’s been the case where instructors change their books or the value of the book goes down to $5 when I’ve tried to sell them back and its just not worth it,” O’Haver said.

O’Haver said if students have that problem at the end of this semester, the book drive will be waiting for students to donate their materials.

O’Haver encourages students to donate books they have laying around from previous semesters as well because their donations will help other less fortunate students with their education.

Kelsey Leachman, junior liberal studies major and member of the association, said the books will be donated to Betterworldbooks.com, a website that resells used textbooks for affordable prices and then donates its profits to fund world literacy.

As aspiring teachers, Leachman said, it is important for the association to help teachers provide materials and opportunities for their students. This allows teachers to become more effective at their job, she said.

“We want to help out our community, because one day we are going to become teachers and we too will need help with materials and providing students with resources, so we’re participating in a cycle we hope will continue,” Leachman said.

A certain percentage of the proceeds will come back to Student California Teachers Association’s branch at Sac State, which provides support for aspiring teachers on campus.

O’Haver said books under 7 years of age should be donated and that all books should be in usable condition. The age limit has been put on the books to ensure the information the books hold is accurate and to ensure the editions of the book are still being used by professors. Any unusable books will be recycled.

Leachman said if the books are usable but not worth anything, they will be donated to local libraries.

O’Haver said the fundraiser is not a resource that is limited only to students.

“I know a lot of teachers are retiring and trying to clear off their shelves. This would be a good place to donate all those books,” O’Haver said.

Since the fundraiser is being held during finals week, more students will be on campus than usual and by the end of the week, they will be done with using their books, O’Haver said. She said she is hopeful the turn out will be a success.

Pham said the decision for donating books will depend on her circumstances.

“I usually try selling them at the bookstore, and if that doesn’t work I try online. If both attempts fail then I’ll be willing to donate them,” she said.

Miriam Arghandiwal can be reached at [email protected]