Disgruntlement over textbook costs has been growing in the United States as prices have risen. Last month, Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, announced that the average New York college freshman and sophomore spends more than $900 a year on texts — 41 percent more than in 1998 — and proposed a plan to make $1,000 of textbook costs tax deductible. The same week, University of Wisconsin students demonstrated against high textbook prices and in favor of creating a textbook rental system.