Every quarter students spend thousands of dollars on textbooks — that is, if they can find them. Missing or late orders frustrate both professors and students whose classes began without the first day’s textbooks and paperbacks.
Each points to different causes for the troubles, and the solution isn’t simple: The process that gets books from a professor’s syllabus to a student’s bookbags is bogged down with a lack of communication within the university and few options from other bookstores in Evanston. The problem was compounded in August when Student Book Exchange shut its doors, leaving Norris Bookstore as the only major textbook supplier in Evanston.
“Two of my books came in a week late,” said Pooja Saigal, a Weinberg sophomore. “That was annoying because I couldn’t really do anything with those classes.”
Norris went out of its way to accommodate the increased volume of orders after SBX closed — one manager said there were 20 percent more titles available this quarter than last. The store now has a larger, more knowledgeable staff and more registers to handle the extra customers.
But the bookstore, operated by book behemoth Barnes & Noble, is looking for more ways to improve the situation, including an interschool bookstore advisory committee.
“We want to be as responsible as we can be to serve students,” Norris University Center Director Bill Johnston said. “The worst part is students don’t have their books — that’s what makes me upset.”
Some students faced the first week of Winter Quarter without books, and professors such as Prof. Bill Savage of the English department say quality service is not a priority at Norris.
“(Norris) is really dropping the ball all over the place,” Savage said. “Without competition, you get a monopoly. Monopolies don’t care.”
A TIGHT SCHEDULE
“The assumption is the bookstore is always at fault if the books aren’t there,” Johnston said. “But that’s not always the bookstore’s problem.”
Several factors affect how many books arrive and whether they arrive on time, making the process more art than a science.
Most orders are without incident, Johnston said, but it only takes a mistake with one 100-level intro of about 500 students to make a “pretty sticky wicket.”
The first step — submitting book orders — is one of the trickiest parts of the process. For books to arrive on time, professors must submit their course reading lists about a month and a half before the first class, Johnston said. Sometimes requests don’t show up until days before courses begin.
Late orders also cost the bookstore money because express shipping is expensive. Johnston said overnight shipping costs about $10 per book — a hefty expense on the store’s thin profit margin.
PROFESSORS, PUBLISHERS, PREDICTIONS
“There’s problems all over,” said Terri Parrish, who is responsible for getting book orders together for the economics department. “Sometimes professors don’t know what books they want until the last minute, or there’s a new edition that doesn’t come out until after the deadline.”
But, last-minute orders and newly printed volumes aside, Parrish said the biggest problem is poor communication between all parties.
“If I had to give it a grade, I would give it a D,” she said.
It takes a month and a half to determine which publishers supply which texts, to find out if a book is available and choose alternate texts if a first choice is out of print.
Even for professors who are quick to fill out their order forms, they can encounter hitches when classes are assigned at the last minute.
The registrar normally begins assembling course schedules three or four months before the quarter begins, but plans are rarely set in stone so early, said Stephen Fisher, associate provost for undergraduate education.
With over 500 courses being offered by professors, sudden departures and illnesses often happen, he said.
Predicting a class’s enrollment accurately enough to order books also is a small feat. Stocks can run out for classes where many students add in. Likewise, if only a few students sign up, Norris must pay to ship back the remainder of the books.
SEEKING ALTERNATIVES
Economics Prof. Mark Witte said when SBX was in business, he placed orders both there and at Norris to increase the chances of getting it right.
“If each has a 20 percent probability of screwing up, the joint probability is pretty small,” he said.
Since SBX’s closing, a handful of professors have turned to Evanston’s decreasing number of independent bookstores and the Internet, where prices are cheaper but it’s harder to make sure you have the right book.
“I suppose the easiest thing is going online,” said history Prof. Jeffrey Rice, who owned Great Expectations, an independent bookstore that folded in September 2001.
Rice said the Internet costs more in shipping but there is no tax, so it’s ultimately a wash.
Johnston cautioned against ordering online because it’s not as reliable as walking into a store, picking up a book with syllabus in hand and knowing it’s correct.
He said going to alternative sources might aid professors in getting their lists together earlier, which would help everyone.
A SMALL REVOLUTION
Savage said he is “intellectually and philosophically” opposed to chain bookstores. So he took his business to Comix Revolution, 606 Davis St., an independent shop run by Jim Mortensen, Weinberg ’94.
“Although he’s a very small operation, he takes care of customers and lets them know what’s in stock,” Savage said. “He’s like the David against the Goliath.”
Mortensen said he has supplied books to about eight professors from smaller departments over the past year and is interested in expanding the textbook side of his business to handle between 12 and 20 orders.
“We really are committed and want to grow that side of the business and do it intelligently,” he said. “It’s not our intent to get big enough to not be able to handle the orders.”
Mortensen said he’s glad to serve the NU community but doesn’t plan on beefing up his business.
“I’m an alternative, yes. But a serious alternative, not especially,” Mortensen said. “I can’t handle nearly the volume SBX did.”
Mortensen’s customers tend to have their orders prepared on time. Also, he is able to turn away requests he knows he can’t fill on short notice — luxuries Norris doesn’t have.
Dixie Uffelman, a Weinberg senior who bought books at Comix Revolution for Savage’s class, had no complaints.
“It was very easy, very friendly,” she said. “They had everything I needed.”
NOWHERE ELSE TO TURN
As Norris likely will remain the first option for professors, administrators are working to improve the bookstore’s service.
Johnston said despite criticism from students and faculty, getting the books into students’ hands on time is a priority.
“It doesn’t make any sense for the bookstore to not want to have the books there,” he said.
To help make sure the shelves stay stocked, a bookstore advisory committee is being restored, Johnston said. One faculty representative from each school will sit on the committee to monitor book ordering procedures and offer suggestions for improvement.
Having orders in early has benefits beyond getting books to students on time. It would allow for a more organized system that might let students pre-order their books online, a system popular at many universities.
Johnston said Norris has been trying to start this service, which has attracted interest. But because reading lists weren’t posted in in advance, nothing came of the discussion.
Early order submissions also would make book-buying cheaper for students because more used books are available earlier in the quarter. It’s especially hard in Fall Quarter when other schools that start earlier already have snatched up many of the available the books.
As a former owner of bookstore, Rice said although Norris
has problems, he gives it credit for getting so many books to the students.
“It does a better job at some things than others,” he said. “It’s not my sense of things that they are incompetent.”
