What's the deal with my university's lab manuals and notes?

Question

I'm an incoming university freshman this fall, and I've been looking over the required books for each of my classes.

Most of them are textbooks of the common sort, except for a few are "Dr. Smith's Lab Manual, 2006" or "Dr. Jones' Selected Notes on Statistics, 2005" or something like that. I assume these are just things the professors have written themselves. Do I have to buy these or are they just given out at the beginning of the class? Can I get them from the university bookstore?

Answer 1

It is common for the department or professor to have their own material written and for sale.  In some cases it may just be the cost of printing, in other cases they jack up the price to personally profit from a captive audience.