New system aims to save Bookstore money, time
Now that campus is again bustling with students preparing themselves for the dawning semester, USU’s Bookstore is highly concentrated with students rushing to find their textbooks, which have been reorganized by author’s last name.
The new system the Bookstore has implemented has created confusion among students who are used to searching for their textbooks by department.
“I knew going into this was going to be bumpy,” said David Parkinson, the Bookstore’s director. “A lot of schools have switched to this system. San Diego State told us it would be tough, but in the end it’s about flow.”
Parkinson said when students grow accustomed to this new way of finding books, they will be in and out of the Bookstore more quickly. One of the biggest issues is that students don’t know there are kiosks available that allow them to log-in and print off their booklist, which is in alphabetical order by last name, he said. If students knew this option was available, they may be more open to the new system, he said.
“Truly, what it boils down to is – you can’t make people read,” Parkinson said. “If you walk into the Bookstore there is a big red stop sign that says, ‘Print your booklist.’“
Steven Moss, a junior and English major, said he has multiple books for a few of his classes, so instead of finding them all in one location, it takes more time to find the individual books when they are spread apart.
“I went into the Bookstore, went to the E’s, the books I needed weren’t there and I didn’t know what to do, so I went home,” Moss said.
Without the book lists that are made available for students to print out through seven kiosks located in the store, Cade Robinson, an international business major and junior, said the new system would be chaotic.
“The list saved me or else I would have been really confused,” Robinson said. “Since you have to go by the last name it takes a lot longer to find the books. For chemistry I have a lab class and recitation, but they are in two different places now.”
Kindsey Hansen, a freshman and sociology major said she was concerned that finding her books was going to take more time out of her schedule with the new organization.
“I don’t want to be late for my next class because I’m going up and down the rows looking for my books,” she said.
Bookstore employee Rachel Holt said the book list prints the list in alphabetical order, so it shouldn’t be difficult to go down the rows in order to grab the needed books.
To add to the confusion the new system has created, the Bookstore is crowded, which adds to students’ frustration while searching for their books, said Casey Ragan, a junior majoring in speech and language pathology.
“A lot of people are angry at first, but it’s not a big deal after they realize their books are laid out for them; it’s easy,” said Stephanie Shurtliff, a sophomore majoring in human movement sciences. “It’s just like a library.”
Bookstore Director David Parkinson said the new system has been financially beneficial and has saved more than $10,000 in labor already. When a textbook runs out, Bookstore employees know immediately that more need to be ordered.
“We shelve faster, we re-shelve faster, we can pull a Book-It order in five minutes and open up shelf space,” Parkinson said. “Is it different? You bet your boots it’s different, but we provide the tool student need to use it by making the kiosks available.”
Parkinson said the biggest issue has been students don’t want to take the time to understand the system, they repel change.
Trevor Nelson, ASUSU graduate senator, said he found that keeping the textbooks organized by department called for more “zigzagging” between aisles to find a handful of different subject matters. He said he was originally confused by the system like many other students, but realized that when the Bookstore is organized from A-Z by author’s last name it’s a more fluid process.
“It’s like swimming downstream. When you find all your books you are close to the check-out line and ready to go,” Parkinson said.
– catherine.meidell@aggiemail.usu.edu