Two tools every college student needs to know about

Worldcat.org

"1.2 billion items in over 10,000 libraries around the world"

Search for books, dvd's, cd's, and journal articles. The site "knows" where you are by zip code (it gets pretty close, and you can change it to your actual zip code if it misses), and will show you where the to find the closest copy of the item you are looking for. You can also create an account and make lists of the books that you want to read, have read, want to buy your kid for Christmas, are related to your hobbies, etc. And since this is OCLC (not Amazon, LibraryThing, or Shelfari) I am reasonably certain that the lists I create will be around for more than 10 years. :-)

campusi.com

This dandy of a site will compare prices at Amazon, half.com, Borders, abebooks.com, biblio.com, Barnes and Noble, and many more. Let it do the work for you!