To download or not to download?

So, you're going back to university soon. Pretty soon, January will spring itself onto you and you're at the starting line of the examination period. To get to the finish, you need to revise. And to revise, you need to read. No doubt many get away with just going over lecture notes, but for those, like me, who prefer taking out textbooks to aid understanding of a topic, the library is a welcome destination.

I've recently heard more and more people talking about downloading the texts from the Internet for free. Who can blame them? It saves time, effort and sometimes money, which any student will know is better spent on their studies. But I've also heard that it's illegal to do so.

We all know that downloading music for free is illegal. Which makes sense because musicians need to get paid for their work. Downloading an album for free would be just like stealing it from HMV, right?

When it comes to books though, I'm not so sure that the ethics are as clear. 'What's the difference between downloading it and borrowing it from the library for free?' some may argue.

Some people, me included, genuinely face many obstacles when trying to borrow a book from the university library. Demand can be high for a book that is in short supply as many students are often after the same book. Some textbooks are only available as ‘short loan', for one or two days; these books cannot be renewed online at Manchester and therefore means potentially unnecessary trips to the library just to renew them. I've experienced both of these in my years at Manchester. These reasons and more propel students towards the more lucrative option of downloading the text to their computer.

I personally prefer to go to the library for a textbook as I normally end up staying there to study, meaning I'm away from distractions (is it just me or does TV get REALLY good when the exam period comes round?).

All in all, I'm not so clear on the law when it comes to book downloading and I believe many students aren't either. Maybe university libraries ought to do more to make sure that they instil the rules and regulations surrounding such issues into their students in the same way they do with issues such as plagiarism and referencing.