Textbook order delays frustrate students, teachers and bookstore staff; some problems caused by publishers
By Sandy Watkins
[email protected]
Staff Writer
Five weeks into the semester and some students still did not have their prepaid textbooks from the bookstore.
 Students in nursing, Spanish, geology, social problems and psychology tried to make do with copied pages until the books arrived. Some instructors even had to alter assignments and testing schedules to accommodate the lack of course materials for students.
Can anything be done to avoid this situation in the future?
How it works:
The process of book ordering begins prior to registration for the upcoming semester and varies in each department.
The bookstore sends emails to the divisions and full-time faculty members notifying them of impending ordering deadlines for textbooks from more that 50 publishers.
The divisions compile statistical information from the enrollment database and make predictions on how many sections will be offered of a specific course and how many spaces will be available in each class. Unless a professor is placing his or her own order, the division's administrative assistants place the textbook orders with the bookstore.
The bookstore analyzes this information and must consider the total number of students in each class, the division's estimate of sections of the class, the number of books on hand, the projected number of used books to come in during book buy-back and the comparison of previous semester's sales.
Another consideration is that not all students purchase books from the bookstore. With this information, Jan Pearson, textbook buyer from Georgia Highlands College, places the orders with the various publishers.
Pearson says, � I have to order as close as possible because the publishers will only accept less than 10 percent returns for an order; so, for an order of 30 books if only 20 sell then the publisher will only accept three back and we are stuck with paying for seven that they won't take back�. This drives up costs for all students because it is passed along in other areas.�
Students may order and prepay for any out of stock books. If they do not the bookstore has no way of knowing the extent of the shortage unless a class instructor notifies them of an additional need. Thus, if a student just waits around for the bookstore to get more books in he or she may not get the book at all.
The bookstore is owned by the college and is totally self supportive. The bookstore cannot operate under a deficit since it must pay its employee's salaries separate from the college's state funding.
What's the problem?
Many students had problems obtaining the �Trato Hecho!� Packet for Sheila McCoy's Spanish 1001 this semester. In this instance the packet was selected by the professor and ordered in November by the bookstore. According to order invoices, the publisher, Prentice-Hall/Pearson, canceled the order 11 times prior to Jan. 9.
McCoy told her students on Jan. 12, �Testing for the first four Temas of Leccion Uno will be postponed until everyone has access to course materials and not just copied pages out of consideration for fairness to those students who are still waiting for packets.�
Subsequently, Prentice-Hall/Pearson cancelled the order four additional times between Jan. 5 and Jan. 19. Pearson reported that the publisher's representative kept reassuring her that the order had been filled and sent, giving no explanation as to why it had not been received.
Pearson resubmitted the order on the computer to no avail. She discovered that every time an order is placed that the publishing company cannot fill because all of the components are not available, the publisher's computer automatically cancels the order. Components may include CD-ROM's, lab manuals, and audio CD's. Pearson stated that the warehouse held this order up because of two extra lab manuals.
On Jan. 16 Pearson instructed Prentice-Hall/Pearson to mail all prepaid orders to the home addresses of individual students. One week later, students still had not received books.
On Jan. 21, a student solicited Dr. William Mugleston, chair of the Social and Cultural Studies Division, for help in the situation. Mugleston stated, �I had no idea that students did not have materials for class. I thought the books had already come in�. I will take care of it.�
Mugleston contacted the auxiliary services manager, Barbara Rogers. They collectively contacted Prentice-Hall/Pearson, and within 24 hours book packets arrived via UPS at students' homes as well as the bookstore.
However, two of the packets that arrived at student addresses were missing lab manuals. Rogers said, � I called them the next day and really gave them a piece of my mind. Their incompetence was just unbelievable.�
Some students did not get copies of �The Wilding of America� for Susan Claxton's Introduction to Social Problems class because the class unexpectedly was overloaded. Claxton stated, �More students than were projected needed the class to graduate. Not only human service majors needed the class but sociology and psychology majors as well. I couldn't see limiting class size because it would have affected about 10 people being able to graduate on time.�
The bookstore placed an additional order for more books on Jan. 9. The publisher shipped partial orders. The first received was a total of four books and the three subsequent shipments had one book each. The last shipment received was the wrong edition with an explanation that the outdated edition was all that was available at this time.
The geology book shortage was resolved by Jan. 19 and was due to an underestimated projection of need and the upcoming edition change.
What can be done to improve the situation?
Pearson says that there are always unforeseen circumstances that can affect book availability like class overloads and edition changes. She said, �Most problems can be resolved with most publishers in a timely matter. However, for the last three semesters, we have had repetitive problems with Prentice-Hall/Pearson.�
Pearson additionally states, �The only way to make them change the way they do business is for the professors and departments to not give them business� Then maybe they will be more conscientious with their service� There isn't anything that the bookstore can do about it, and unfortunately the students are the ones suffering for it.�
|
