Volume XL! {A-I
Textbook Problems Mount
By Clare Glore
Frustration and added enroll
ment seem to be the key terms
when talking about the Guilford
College Bookstore and its service
to students and faculty.
Each year there seems to be a
number of hassles arising with
getting books at Guilford Col
lege-professors who say that the
bookstore manager does not
order enough books, poor esti
mation of class number by
professors, and the inevitable
difference between pre
registration figures and actual
class size.
The bookstore is basically a
profit-making operation, leased
to a private source by the
college.
In the past few years the
bookstore has been selling more
and more non-stationary items
and the actual space devoted to
books has diminished. One rath
er disgruntled professor termed
The QtHlroroicw ffjj
it "A drygoods and notions
store," and mumbled something
under his breath about Guilford
College mugs and monogrammed
athletic supporters-obviously
not his idea of a bookstore.
The manager of the book
store, Lee Kay, said there have
been fewer problems this year
than any other. When asked how
he figured out how many books
to order, he explained that a
professor sends an estimate of
the number he will need, and
Kay figures how many copies
may be in the hands of the
students, etc., or as he says,
"many imponderables." Kay
noted that all the professors that
have come into the bookstore
have been happy with the
ordering.
Professor John Grice of the
political science department says
of the problem, "Guilford is not
large enough to support a
bookstore (of the profit making
variety), and the availability of
Friday, September 24, 1971
books is important to the
atmosphere of a good college."
Grice suggested that the col
lege run the bookstore at a loss
and hire the manager on salary,
pointing out that the school
supports an athletic program
that loses money.
Leslie Carr of the sociology
department had in his words,
"one course pretty well messed
up" by the bookstore. Three
months ago he ordered 20 copies
of a text, but somehow only one
arrived. He asked Mr. Kay to
hold that copy for him, but
when he got to the store it was
gone. Carr requested that Mr.
Kay telephone the publisher to
order the books and Mr. Kay
declined, saying it would cost
the college money. Carr added
that he had had problems with
other bookstores, and did not
consider Guilford's situation un
ique, even if it was one of
"enormous frustration" for him.
William Burris, the academic
No. 2
dean, expressed the thought that
the bookstore is much better
than it used to be. "When you
have 95 professors and only four
or five problems with ordering,
you're batting about .900," he
said. Burris recognized that to
the professors who don't have
enough books it is a serious
problem.
The dean said he did not
think it would be possible for
the college to absorb the cost of
a bookstore, "in times such as
these."
Another alternative seen to
the problem would be to give
the textbook part of the book
store to the library, since they
already have the technical facili
ties and know-how for ordering
books. The library could use the
profit to hire an extra person
who would do textbooks each
semester and technical work the
rest of the time, or use the profit
to buy library books, whichever
would be of most direct benefit
to students.
Some schools employ book
exchanges, or textbooks are run
by the student government for
minimal profit. A typical book
exchange might have books sold
for 10% mark-up on the stu
dent's asking price to pay for the
people who "mind the store."
Ideally students would get books
cheaper, people could sell books
for what they want, and it
would eliminate running to dif
ferent dorms, following elusive
leads, and reading or making all
those lists that are found on
various walls around campus.
This semester Guilford stu
dent Alan Socol has started a
book co-op called Parabolis.
Parabolis has gotten off the
ground and is now in the process
of trying to learn how to fly.
Several professors have indi
cated that they would support
student efforts, whether indivi
dual or co-op, to sell books
better and less expensively.