# Why would a university student do this? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 26, 2025, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161 "2025-11-26T18:36:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/1 "2025-11-26T18:36:18Z")
I work at a University library. I noticed one of the students taking a picture of the dedication and the indicia of a book. Why? ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/2 "2025-11-26T18:37:29Z")
Maybe it was dedicated to someone they know and they were surprised to see it? ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/3 "2025-11-26T18:39:30Z")
I saw a book dedicated to our own C Dexter Haven. I was pretty surprised. But why take a picture of the copyright page? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/4 "2025-11-26T18:43:54Z")
Maybe it was a bet and the photo was texted to their friends to prove they won. Maybe it was a scavenger hunt. Maybe they or someone they know wrote the book. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/5 "2025-11-26T18:52:23Z")
Was it possibly a textbook that students of a particular class were required to have? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/6 "2025-11-26T19:05:40Z")
“Taking a photo” these days often replaces what was once “jotting down a note” or “copying down information”. Think of it in those terms, and many reasonable explanations become apparent. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/7 "2025-11-26T19:08:41Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Think of it in those terms, and many reasonable explanations become apparent. I can’t think of a single reason to do that except (maybe) fake a bibliography (not sure that even that makes sense). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/8 "2025-11-26T19:17:28Z")
They got something from that book before, but realized that they forgot to write down all of the info for their bibliography. Or they were about to look something up, and didn’t forget to get the info for the bibliography. Or the city where it was published was their hometown, and they thought it was neat. Or they were actually using the other camera on the phone, and getting a random selfie in the library. College students do all sorts of odd things for no notable reason. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/9 "2025-11-26T19:18:18Z")
I’d assume for referencing purposes, if the publication date, edition number and printing details were on that page. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/10 "2025-11-26T19:18:21Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I can’t think of a single reason to do that except (maybe) fake a bibliography (not sure that even that makes sense) . That’s the first thing I thought of, except not necessarily a _fake_ bibliography. The student may have used the book as a reference earlier in the day, intending to cite it in a paper (could even have snapped photos of relevant passages instead of taking notes!). Later on, the student realized that they didn’t capture the book’s bibliographic information so they had to go back, find the book, and take the snapshot. EDIT: Ninja’d by **Chronos**! **Dorjan** ’s scenario works as well, with the target being something in the dedication being meaningful to the student. ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/11 "2025-11-26T19:18:34Z")
Could they be taking a photo of the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) so they can order a copy of the book for themselves? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/12 "2025-11-26T19:20:08Z")
That^^ I’ve done that very thing. At book stores too. Don’t mean to be rude, but I can generally find in cheaper online or at a used book store if they’ve notated the ISBN # ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/13 "2025-11-26T20:11:52Z")
In scholarly research, which I assume is what your library users are doing, you’d need to ensure all bibliographic details are correct for any writing that you do. For specific information to a specific edition of a work that page has nearly all the critical info. While university library catalogues often have capacity to generate a reference in Endnote or other formats, that needs to be verified against reality as they are sometimes shit. Another reason you might is so that you can better search for an online digitised version of the work. The titling of works scanned for Google Books is sometimes also badly wide of reality as well. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/14 "2025-11-26T21:55:05Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I work at a University library. I noticed one of the students taking a picture of the dedication and the indicia of a book. Is “indicia” autocorrect for “indices”? or do you mean the stamps or other marks on the book that show what university collection it belongs to? or where in the library the university keeps it? maybe the student saw some humorous mismatch in the way the dedication was worded, and the way the book was catalogued. Not specifically of a library book, but I sometimes take pictures of “found humor,” and “found art.” ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/15 "2025-11-26T23:00:32Z")
I enjoy tweaking my ebooks to look “good” to my eyes. Sometimes if I see something formatted really nicely, I’ll snag a picture to see if I can figure out how to recreate it with my code. Also, I could see someone taking a picture of it with a phone, rather than running it through the photocopier, if you can do OCR conversion ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/16 "2025-11-26T23:22:25Z")
> [@Fair\_Rarity](#): > > Also, I could see someone taking a picture of it with a phone, rather than running it through the photocopier, if you can do OCR conversion I’d assume the student shot pix of a couple / few content pages they wanted to quote in a paper, then shot the book’s ID page(s) so they could get their cite footnote correct. Or else I utterly misunderstand the scenario described in the OP. I’d have killed back in Ye Olden Dayes of Parchment and Quilles for the ability to quickly snap multi page excerpts from books in the stacks without having to hand copy, or photocopy at great expense, or check out and lug home. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2025, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/17 "2025-11-27T02:00:59Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > maybe the student saw some humorous mismatch in the way the dedication was worded “To my parents, Ayn Rand and God” ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2025, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/18 "2025-11-27T02:03:40Z")
Researching dedications by that author as part of a dissertation on that author’s relationships with friends, family and other authors, as evidenced by the wording of dedications in that author’s works? ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2025, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/19 "2025-11-27T17:45:49Z")
I appear to have the definition of “indicia” wrong. I meant the page with the copyright, publisher, edition and ISBN. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2025, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161/20 "2025-11-27T17:54:44Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I appear to have the definition of “indicia” wrong. I meant the page with the copyright, publisher, edition and ISBN . As far as I can tell, you have it right. > **[Indicia (publishing)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indicia_(publishing))** > > Indicia, from the plural of the Latin word indicium meaning distinguishing marks, is a piece of text in a magazine or comic book, traditionally appearing on the first recto page after the cover, which usually contains the official name of the publication, its publication date, issue number, information regarding editorial governance of the publication, and a disclaimer regarding disposition of unsolicited submissions. > While placement of indicia was generally at the bottom of the inside first re... [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-a-university-student-do-this/1025161.md?page=2)