It's midmorning, the Monday before classes start. After the lazy days of summer, traffic around Grounds finally is returning to its normal level. But inside the University Bookstore, things already are in high gear -- and have been for quite a while.
Back in the spring, the Bookstore's Course Materials Director Lisa Milhoan sent out reminders to 1,200 University professors, requesting they submit fall semester textbook orders by the May 1 deadline.
Every semester, the Bookstore houses approximately 4,600 titles, all of which are hot commodities now that students are descending upon Grounds for classes.
But, in her 15 years at the Bookstore, Milhoan knows that professors have a tendency to forget. Less than 40 percent of this semester's requests for book orders arrived on time.
By August, after e-mailing and phoning faculty members, the Bookstore processed a majority of its book requests. Milhoan said she most aggressively goes after professors who teach introductory-level courses, because finding large numbers of certain textbooks is difficult in late August.
More importantly, however, introductory-level books account for the highest percent of returned material at the end of every semester.
Ideally, the Bookstore faculty wants to offer students a 50 percent return value for old books. But guaranteeing such an amount is hard because the buy back price depends on the new price of textbooks that the same professors will use the following semester.
"We just want to allow for the greatest buy back value for the students," University Bookstore Director Jon Kates said.
The books start to roll in as early as July 1, and shipments run through early August. Meanwhile, an operations manager, full-time Bookstore employees and student receivers work, often through the weekend, on the daunting task of unpacking each truckload.
Next, employees alphabetize and strategically place books around the Bookstore based on enrollment numbers.
And then the Bookstore is open for business.
"It's really like a jigsaw puzzle," Kates said, adding he must make continual adjustments for overstock in popular subjects such as economics and psychology.
Once the purchasing begins, masses of students ascend the stairs to the second floor, which now looks like a complex maze. Determined to find their way through the overflowing stacks, and trying to steer clear of hurried Bookstore employees and slightly dazed classmates, students often attempt to remain calm.
At least until they check the price of the first book.
"Oh my God, you've got to be kidding me," second-year College student Emily Harbin said. "This one costs $226."
Harbin, along with her friend Emily Shurtz, also a second-year College student, decided to tackle their back-to-school shopping as a team. Both have chosen the pre-med route, so they head straight for the biology and chemistry textbooks and solutions manuals. In an effort to cut costs and keep the stress level to a minimum, Harbin and Shurtz share the most expensive of their biology books.
Four books later, Shurtz comments on one of the more frustrating aspects of collegiate book-buying.
"I probably won't be able to sell these back because they always change the editions," she said.
Last spring, she and Harbin each got less than a $50 return on the $600 worth of books they purchased earlier in the semester.
First-year students often face the greatest shock at the biannual tradition of collegiate book-buying. Linda Strike, a first-year College student, initially refuses a basket, claiming she can carry her books.
Three minutes later, gratefully she accepts one.
"Is this all I need?" Strike asked, staring at a lone 100-page paperback assigned by her ENWR instructor. "I feel like I need a thicker textbook, like the ones we had in high school -- not that I'm complaining."
Strike breezes through the rest of her shopping with considerable ease, stopping only to ask on what shelf her psychology and Spanish books were relocated. She flips through used texts, avoiding overzealous highlighting and scribbles in the margins.
"I didn't even look at the prices," she said.
Doing so probably would bring a smile to her face once she joined the likes of Harbin and Shurtz down in the checkout lines, which snake around the lower level of the Bookstore, when she discovers how common $500-$600 bills are these days.
Professors and other faculty members, however, aren't entirely to blame for the financial woes of students on tight budgets.
Careful consideration on the part of professors often causes delayed book orders. The 10 to 15 percent of University Bookstore late textbook orders, which force students to hold out until mid-September, results from careful investigation into which books are best -- and which still fit within a reasonable price range.
"The faculty is very cost-conscious," Kates said.
Upon coming to the University, students will recognize that English and history professors prefer to assign a wide variety of material. Thus, class book lists tend to be much more extensive, although the prevalence of paperbacks prevents costs from jumping higher than other majors.
Students in Engineering and Commerce classes, on the other hand, are expected to buy far fewer, but more lengthy (and pricey) textbooks.
With any luck, as more faculty employ the use of the Internet, Web-based material and electronic resources such as Toolkit should help to keep costs down. But, most likely, pricey book lists won't disappear from the University or any other institution of higher education anytime soon.
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