Easier Ways to Meet Students’ Textbook Needs

As course materials formats have grown in complexity over recent years, so has managing and sourcing those materials.

A panel of campus store professionals shared their recommendations for streamlining the process in the CAMEX22 session, From Adoptions to Selling: How Your Store Can Better Manage Course Materials to Save Time and Manpower.

Each store faces different situations with their students but have found ways to adapt to those needs.

Ben Compton, course materials manager, Aztec Shops, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, recommended first assessing how well your textbook operations are running. “It’s very important to set up the department correctly,” he says, to make sure the right employees are handling each task. “It’s extremely vital to cross-train people in your department,” he added.

Building partnerships and relationships is also critical to smoother operations. Compton’s store set up a bookstore advisory committee with representatives from each college and the academic senate. The committee, which meets monthly, provides valuable feedback and brings issues to the store’s attention.

“It’s also important to realize your store may need to transition from the physical world to the digital world,” he said. Eight years ago Aztec Shops retrenched its approach to course materials. Back then digital sales amounted to 2.3% of all course materials; now digital sales make up 85%.

A shift to more digital materials also made a difference for the Shocker Store, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS. Director Andi Stipp said the store’s inclusive access program was driven largely by the high percentage of first-generation students on her campus, half of whom were eligible for Pell Grants.

“Our students prefer digital when available, because it’s more affordable,” she said.

The Shocker Store initially created an opt-in program. Students had free access to the materials until the drop date, at which time they needed to pay the subscription fee through the store. It took the store seven days to reconcile all the billing, and the program only had 78% participation.

In fall 2021, they decided to switch to an opt-out model. With higher participation (97.9%) the average cost to students has dropped. Charges are applied to student account, or other designated account, and only takes the store about an hour per month to process.

For Ryan Windle, textbook manager, CU Book Store, University of Colorado Boulder, print rentals have been the best way to keep costs down for students. “We know our students still prefer print books when they’re available at a good price,” he said.

Sourcing rental books from multiple marketplaces has been key to lowering the cost “and we pass the savings on to students,” Windle said. But the time involved in manually checking titles on a number of marketplaces and processing orders proved too much.

About three years ago the store decided to use the MBS SimpleSource ordering tool, which allowed easier access to MBS inventory as well as books available in multiple online marketplaces. The store could build want lists, set limits on pricing, schedule ship dates, and more through the tool.

“We now rent books in the $10-$20 range,” something they couldn’t do previously because of the time and labor involved, Windle said. The CU Book Store also signed up for the MBS Rental Rebate program, which enables the store to sell back or keep titles as needed.

Cathy Slane, field marketing territory manager with MBS Textbook Exchange, recommended that campus stores work with multiple vendors in sourcing books. “I never believe in putting all your eggs in one basket,” she says. Using more than one vendor will let stores take advantage of better pricing and availability.