Auxiliary Services is reviewing contract proposals from Barnes & Noble and Follett, the current vendor, to determine which company will supply and manage the campus store next year.
AU is looking for its future provider to have innovative ideas and can help the university redo the store's lower level and accommodate the Internet's increasing presence in book purchases, according to Auxiliary Services Director JoDe Norris.
"What is promising for me is - should Barnes & Noble get the bid approved - is they have better online resources, I was told," said Student Government President Seth Cutter. "It gives me hope that they've been such a successful company that they know how to do it."
The online resources and new managers that would come with Barnes & Noble might outweigh the benefit of Follett's familiarity, Cutter said.
"Maybe Barnes & Noble will be bad," he said. "But at least we'll have a taste of both."
Other changes that would accompany a new contract, such as management changes, might also be beneficial, Cutter said.
"If bookstore management is quality, you will have quality management in the community," he said.
AU is also looking for a provider with good customer service and communication with faculty and students, Norris said.
"We need to try and reach them even harder," she said.
Auxiliary Services is attempting to educate professors on the book adoption process - how professors select the books they would like to use for the upcoming semester.
Professors rarely meet the textbook adoption deadline, which is April 15 for the fall semester, Norris said.
"[Adoption] is always difficult no matter how good a contractor is on education," she said. "We usually have 15 or 20 percent adoptions [by the deadline] and that probably is a little high. Faculty, they don't understand why it has to be so early."
Both Barnes & Noble and Follett would keep April 15 as the deadline to adopt books for the fall semester and would develop a relationship with faculty to communicate the importance of the adoption process.
If books are adopted on time, the provider is able to secure the adequate number of books and more used books, which students can buy for lower prices, Norris said.
"It's first come, first serve," she said.
Next year's book prices are likely to remain the same whether AU signs a contract with Follett or Barnes & Noble.
Forrest Young, a freshman in SPA, said he prefers to get his books elsewhere since he has a tight budget and can often find cheaper books online.
"I would prefer to go to the bookstore and support the bookstore, but I just can't because I'm a college student," he said.
When students buy textbooks from Follett and sell them back to the bookstore, they receive 50 percent of the money if the book was new and 25 percent if it was used, Norris said.
The process can be confusing and difficult, Young said.
Samantha Wingo, a first year graduate student in the School of Public Affairs, said she has bought books from both vendors.
"I haven't had any problems," she said. "Some things aren't always there [at the campus bookstore] and they don't have ones you need, but I've never had a problem ordering [books]."
Last week, the two possible providers presented their proposals to a forum of faculty, students and staff members, who rated the presentations on a one-to-10 scale, Norris said. The forum will meet Friday to determine which company will best benefit the university and will make a final decision in the next two weeks.
You can reach this staff writer at landerson@theeagleonline.com.
