[nabs-l] Bookstore problems

Tue Sep 23 16:49:17 UTC 2014

Hi Kaiti and all,

I would imagine DSS wouldn't want to give you contact information 
for their students, but I wonder if they would be willing to 
forward an e-mail to their list of students?  Perhaps you could 
also just start a group and advertize for it.  At my school 
student organizations get websites, so when people look for 
groups to get involved with, it's pretty easy to find them.

Karl

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Kaiti Shelton via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com>, National Association 
of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 23:59:13 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Bookstore problems

Hi all,

I am not required to buy my books on campus, but the scholarship 
I
have is there so it is silly to not use it.  At least, that was 
my
thinking before I realized that these changes were made and it 
would
take forever for me to just get the print copies of the books so 
I
could exchange my receits for the text files the DS office had 
done
well in advance of the school year.  I did end up buying one book 
from
Amazon this semester, but looking ahead to next semester and next
year, I think I should have the right to use my book scholarship 
and
get my books on-time like everyone else in my class who qualified 
for
it.  Especially since I submit my alternative format requests way 
in
advance of the start of each semester, it's silly to have the 
books
done and stuck in the DS office where they can't be used.

I'm hoping that the manager will be willing to let me continue 
paying
in advance for any print copies which don't come in due to 
bookstore
error when the DS office has them ready to be picked up.  I have 
no
problem with paying via my scholarship, and look at it this way; 
if I
pay for the book and never actually pick up the print copy, 
that's one
more they have in their stock so its a win win situation.  I'm 
just
shocked that the DS office didn't say something before I did.  I 
told
them back in the first and second weeks of school the issues I 
was
having, and though the worked wieth me to make sure I was still 
able
to do my assignments they didn't actually work towards putting 
more
than a bandaid on the problem.

I've thought about trying to organize a group of students on 
campus to
discuss issues like this and to get a little more backing on 
certain
things, but the DS office seems pretty tight-lipped when it comes 
to
confidentiality.  I really don't know that many other people who 
go to
the DS office for accomodations even though I do know they're out
there, so I'm not quite sure how I'd start such a group.  It's a 
great
idea that could be really awesome if carried out though.

On 9/20/14, Arielle Silverman via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> 
wrote:
 Hi Kaiti,
 Any chance you can buy your books, at least some of them, on 
Amazon
 and email your receipts to the disability office? Or are you 
required
 to buy books on campus?
 Any books available on Learning Ally or BookShare?
 Arielle

 On 9/20/14, Ashley Bramlett via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> 
wrote:
 Kaiti,

 That sounds like a huge mess. I'm sure professors will complain 
loudly;
 full

 time professors have committee meetings and those working there 
years
 have
 power; I'm sure they hate the system as much as students.

 What I do is rather than mess with online stuff wich is probably 
half
 accessible, I go to the bookstore with my schedule and ask a 
store person
 to

 walk around with me for books; I get used if possible. I pay for 
them.
 then, the last step I do is the same as you.
 I give a copy of my receit to the disabilities office so they 
can get me
 alternative format books.

 In your case, I suggest speaking to the manager which you 
already did.
 For books you did not receive, I can only think of four options. 
Order
 from

 amazon, barns and noble, or other vendor.
 You  could also borrow a friend's copy and scan relevant 
sections.
 You might even borrow your professor's copy and do the same.
 The library may have a copy on reserve which you could use.
 Finally, you might ask other students who took the class if you 
can buy
 their copy at a discount. I know at my schools, students have  
often
 bought

 used books from other students. Have someone walk around campus 
with you
 to

 look for used book fliers as well. At least at Marymount where I 
was,
 those

 were often around bulletin boards.

 In terms of advocacy, maybe you can get a group of students with
 disablities

 to
 speak up about this.

 Good luck!

 Ashley
 -----Original Message-----
 From: Kaiti Shelton via nabs-l
 Sent: Friday, September 19, 2014 11:21 PM
 To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
 Subject: [nabs-l] Bookstore problems

 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

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--
Kaiti

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