[nabs-l] Bookstore problems

[Kaiti Shelton]

Hi, NABSters,

I'm having a serious issue with my university's bookstore, and I'm
wondering if a few of you could weigh in with suggestions as to how I
might work to change it.

Until this semester, I could order my textbooks in advance online.
The site was super accessible, and since it is linked to my schedule
on our university management site, all I had to do was make sure all
the books were in my cart and check out.  All the books would be
packaged up in boxes and ready for pick up when I got to school, and
since I got an electronic receipt emailed to me when I completed my
orders online, I could just forward it right away to my disability
services coordinator, and she would give me most of my books weeks
before school started.  It was a great system.

However, the bookstore decided to stop taking online orders.  Starting
with my class, everyone has had the option to take advantage of a book
scholarship.  This scholarship program is part of a U.S Dept of
Education grant the school received, and allows for qualifying
students to receive a 500 ddollar allowance to use on textbooks per
semester for four years.  This has encouraged more people to buy books
directly from the university store, where they can essentially get
them for free or for significantly less, rather than go to Amazon,
Cheg, or other sources to get their books.  I guess for the first two
years the book scholarship program was in place everything worked
great, but now with three classes of students qualifying for books,
and most of the people wanting to not spend money when they don't have
to open their wallets, the bookstore decided the demand was too great
for the man-power they had, so they stopped accepting online orders
and now have everyone come to the bookstore once they're on campus to
buy their books.

This has created several problems for the general campus student
without any extenuating circumstances or disabilities.  E.G, the way
professors submit adoptions or book orders is different now, so the
bookstore lost the adoption one of my professors placed, and only
ordered enough books for one section of his class when he teaches two.
Another class I'm in doesn't have books yet because for some reason
the bookstore didn't realize that class would be taught this semester,
so they didn't replenish their supply of the book.  One person in the
class is sharing the last copy the store had with everyone else.
Thank goodness it's a class that meets once a week so everyone can get
their reading done.  The other book for the class wasn't in either,
and the professor just decided to loan out her personal copies until
the bookstore got the ones for the class in.  Because the bookstore
didn't take online orders, they didn't really have an accurate count
of how many books they would need to order for each class.  I saw
plenty of students in the special order line when I was in there
trying to sort out my stuff, "special order" being for books that
aren't necessarily rare, but just aren't in any of the bulk orders the
bookstore thought to place.  Plenty of sighted students have had to
wait for books to come in, have had to special order things for their
classes, and professors have needed to postpone assignments when their
class was textbook-less.  Overall, it's just a less-efficient system
that isn't working for anyone.

The problem for me, and other students who get alternative formats, is
that legally the university can't give out the alternative format copy
without a receipt.  When I went to special order two of my books, I
tried to get the employees to give me a receipt for my order.  They
refused, and said that I would get a receipt when I picked the books
up and paid for them then.  They would not let me pay in advance, even
though sooner or later I would pay for and get the book in some order
anyway.

Today, when I took my third trip to the bookstore to check on another
book which is still not in, I asked if my special order I had placed 2
weeks ago had arrived, because I was told I would be notified by phone
when it came in and it had been a while.  I picked up two other books
a week ago, and the third book I placed on special order along with
the other two was not in then.   I didn't get a phone call about those
other two books even though they had been on the shelf when I checked
in person, so I just wanted to check again in the store.  This time I
was a little more insistent with the employees that they figure out
what was going on with my textbook, because it was my third trip
there, and I wasn't receiving phone calls I was told I would receive,
so I wanted to leave there with the book or with knowledge about what
was going on.  They called the publisher and said that the order was
automatically canceled by them when they saw I ordered the second
edition of the book rather than the third, and Oxford Press didn't
tell the bookstore that they did that.  How I, the student, am
supposed to know that happened when the second edition is what the
bookstore site said I should buy is beyond me, and I mentioned to them
that the other students in my class who don't have their books will
probably come in wanting new orders as well because midterms are in 2
weeks, and no one has their stuff yet except for one person.  I then
tried to get them to somehow give me proof of order or purchase, which
I had tried to do with some other books before when I special ordered
them.  I had already been told once that they won't let me pay for the
books in advance as I mentioned before, but I told them that it is
pointless for the Disabil8ity office to have these books done and to
have put all the time into converting them, and for them to not be
able to give them to me on a technicality that isn't their fault.
Plus, by week 5 of school, it is ridiculous that people are still
having isssues getting books, and it really does hold the people with
alternative formats hostage because we can't just borrow someone
else's book to get our reading done.  I finally got a manager and
explained the situation I'm having, and he went with me to a register
and told the casheer to charge me for the book in advance so I could
have a receipt to take to the disability office and get my book.

The textbook manager seemed to understand why this is a problem, and
apologized for not thinking about it when they changed how things work
for ordering books, but it is clear that the disability office hasn't
said anything to the bookstore, and no other student has explained the
problems related to alternative formats and getting the print copy so
we can get the alternative copy to the manager.  I know there are
plenty of students on my campus who use alternative format textbooks,
but I guess I'm going to have to be the one who is the squeaky wheel.
The only issue is that I'm not exactly sure what to do next now that
I've explained what the problem is.  I have the textbook manager's
name now and know how to get ahold of him directly, but this is a
bigger issue than just getting my personal books, and I'd like for it
to be fixed next semester.  Who knows; maybe changes that would make
it easier for people to order in advance to get alternative formats
would make the system more like what it was, and therefore easier for
everybody.

Thoughts?
-- 
Kaiti


-- 
Kaiti