Skyrocketing prices and next-to-nothing money back for textbooks is no fun, but neither is spam overflowing e-mail inboxes.

Now that football season is over, students have moved on to using the Angel Course Management System to sell used textbooks.

Not only is it against university policy to use these services to sell textbooks, or any other items for that matter, but some professors are getting annoyed by the trend.

And it's understandable.

No one enjoys opening up their Angel or WebMail inbox with the expectation of receiving class news and other information only to find numerous e-mails soliciting everything from concert tickets to apartment sublets.

These services were created for academic purposes, and should be used with such purposes in mind.

Of course, textbooks are used for academic purposes as well, but there are several services such as The Daily Jolt and LionConnection, that are just as speedy, which students can use to sell back textbooks.

But this is one instance in which a little effort from the university would go a long way. What would be the harm in setting up a community bulletin board for such sales?

If each class had its own Angel bulletin board, this would drastically limit the individuals using each board. Further, it would ensure that the information posted would be pertinent to each individual student.

Students who are interested could peruse the listings at their leisure, and those who aren't interested are not inconvenienced by voluminous e-mails.

This really would be a win-win situation for all involved. The time spent establishing the board would be minimal and student participation would be voluntary, and no one would be inconvenienced by such a plan.

There's no debating the usefulness of Angel services, especially when trying to connect with peers in classes.

But when it comes to shopping for and selling used books, it's understandable that students would want to sell textbooks in such a way. What more can the university really expect?

It is obvious that a simple action on the part of Penn State could easily remedy this situation. The creation of bulletin boards for each class on Angel for textbook sales and other campus announcements would please students and professors alike.