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The Associated Students of Madison’s Academic Affairs Committee announced it will hold a textbook swap for three days this January, taking a different format from the one-day swap it typically holds.

According to Academic Affairs Chair Chris Tiernan, the swap this semester will run from Jan. 18 to Jan. 20. He said the committee will sell students’ textbooks for 30 percent less than what they are sold for at the University Bookstore.

“We’re addressing the difficulties found by students who are trying to buy and sell books by creating this market for students,” Tiernan said.

According to Tiernan, the textbook swap was created while he was an intern with the committee in spring 2008. He said the committee has since decided to make it a semi-annual sale due to its success.

John Skic, intern with the committee, said the swap was created to battle the rising costs of attending the university, including increasing tuition rates.

“The cost of textbooks is rising exponentially,” Skic said. “We wanted to create a market for students to buy and sell textbooks and eliminate the profit-generating middleman.”

According to committee intern Lin Weeks, the swap’s three-day span is a change from the previous semester’s event, which took place for only one day.

“This will allow more students to participate and for the event to run more seamlessly than it has in the past,” Weeks said.

Skic agreed the extended time period for the swap will be beneficial for students.

“We found this time constraint reduced the amount of students we could help,” Skic said. “We decided this semester to increase the amount of time to three days.”

Weeks said students will be able to drop off their textbooks Jan. 18 and the swap volunteers will spend that day categorizing and organizing the books.

Students will be able to come and buy textbooks they need for a reduced cost Jan. 19. Students will then be able to come by and pick up their unsold textbooks and money from the volunteers Jan. 20.

“It’s made by students for students,” Weeks said. “We want to improve the quality of life for students at Madison.”