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Whether you're in school or not, these tome-filled shops will make you want to hit the books.

Monday Sep 15, 2008.     By Stacy Warden

Arts + Words Feed

You've paid your tuition, signed up for a meal plan and found housing. You're ready to start partying, right? Not so fast. You've still gotta buy all those books your professor wants you to read far too quickly; there goes that drinkin' money. While there's no real way to avoid buying the things altogether (believe me, I've tried; the public libraries aren't too keen on repeat renewals), there is a solid way to save some pennies in the process: alternative bookshops. So pull on your argyle sweater, slip on your specs and scan the shelves at these money-saving spots.

Seminary Co-Op Bookstore
Sometime back in the early '60s a bunch of booklovers got together in Hyde Park and decided to open a shop of their own. Here's the kicker: Each of them invested no more than $10. The bookstore now houses over 100,000 titles on its aging shelves and is touted as one of the best academic bookish locales in the world. Seminary Co-Op has a selection of university-press publications as well as a nostalgic assortment of childhood classics. National authors often make appearances to read and promote their latest works. The shop also carries a wide range of indie bestsellers, national award winners and specialized, themed book lists like cartography titles in honor of the Chicago-wide Festival of Maps. Seminary Co-Op also owns 57th Street Books, where you will find a similar intellectual hodgepodge of sorts.

Books in the City
Dig out your student ID and throw all your old texts in a tote before heading over to Books in the City. Thanks to the shop's buyback policy, you can save even more money on new and used titles. You can also use the website's online search engine to browse by school, author or title. Books in the City also sells those pesky professor-written coursepacks (read: huge waste of paper) and cram-all-night study guides. In addition to the inescapables, the shop houses a small children's literature section and stocks plenty of stationery, gut-busting greeting cards and strange little baubles. Books in the City caters to DePaul University, Columbia College and Roosevelt University (the latter two in its South Loop location).

Women & Children First
Forget people; you won't need them anymore once you step into this popular Andersonville bookshop. There are enough titles here to keep you curled in the corner for days. Although Women and Children First doesn't specialize in textbooks, it has become a go-to source for a number of profs from Loyola, DePaul and Chicago's Art Institute. If you're signed up for any women's studies or social activism courses, chances are you'll be swinging by this spot. We recommend paying a visit, no matter what you're studying.

Prairie Avenue Bookshop
This is a must for anyone studying architecture and design. The independently owned and operated shop, tucked in Chicago's bustling downtown district, stocks all of the architectural essentials. Prairie Avenue's shelves hold over 20,000 new and used books and the shop's virtual nooks boast even more. Check out the store's website for a complete list of titles, but don't waste all your time online. The physical location is certainly worth a visit with its architectural artifacts and furniture scattered throughout. Prairie Avenue also publishes its own newsletter so you can stay up-to-date on the latest published and upcoming titles.

Beck's Book Store (Truman College)
Catering to the nearby Truman College, Beck's Book Store in Uptown offers more than just the stuff you need to study. Many, if not most, students come here on a budget and jump specs-first into the stacks of used texts. Only when those are picked over do they move on to the pristine plastic-wrapped newer editions. Before you take out another loan just for books, apply for the Arthur Beck Olsen Textbook Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded each semester and offers loyal patrons a chance to splurge on texts without digging themselves into debt (you must be a current Truman student to apply). Beck's has several other locations throughout the city, though they're not as textbook-heavy.