Don't judge a bookstore by the length of its line

By Amanda Prouty

Most students currently attending classes at NCC recently experienced the long, time-consuming lines outside of the new NCC “bookstore.” Not many, however, actually know the real reason why the bookstore was relocated.

The majority of the campus’ gripe these past weeks has surprisingly not been about strict professors or how much homework has been assigned. It has been about individual’s horrific experiences purchasing their textbooks.

Whether it was waiting in line for three hours, getting in line four different times or exchanging books, there has been a continuous grumble going around about this year’s book acquiring process.

While it is extremely unfortunate that students had to spend so much time purchasing their books, there was simply no way around it.

Karen Hernandez, the head of the bookstore, said that the reason the bookstore was moved was not because an increase in textbook theft or the desire to put more snacks and cutesy notebooks in the bookstore. It was moved under the order of the Bloomington Fire Marshall who had given NCC a citation for the size of the bookstore.

A college bookstore is supposed to have 1.1 square feet for every student. This would be perfect if NCC had 1,818 students. NCC, however, has around 9,000 students.

After being given a citation, Hernandez had no choice but to find a new location for the bookstore. Normally, this wouldn’t pose such a problem. There was a lot of room in the Fine Arts building for a nice, organized, time efficient bookstore.

Unfortunately, the Fine Art’s building has been under construction since spring. Because of the construction, the bookstore was relocated to the lower level next to the library.

With the limited amount of space for the bookstore, there obviously was not room for more than two cash registers. As students waited in line to receive their books, they most likely noticed the several bookstore clerks scurrying around to find all of their textbooks. Students could not see the vast amount of textbooks piled from one shelf to the next from the front of the store.

Hernandez said, “NCC is offering 1,096 different courses this fall and that the bookstore has over 9,000 different titles of books. Not 9,000 books. There are 9,000 different titles of books. This means that if the bookstore simply had one copy of every different book we have for every course we have available, we would have 9,864,000 books in our bookstore.” Now factor in the fact that NCC has more than one student in every course.

It was also noted in an email from Ms. Hernandez, “The bookstore has processed 5,301 web orders to date for a record $757,439… [and] sold a record $1,945,321 in textbooks alone."

Never before has NCC sold this many books in the fall semester.
It is highly doubtful that if students were to try and find their own textbooks, that they would come out with the correct book in anywhere near as a timely fashion as the bookstore employees did.

Hernandez also mentioned that this year there were a lot less book returns because of the process the bookstore used.

“It should also be recognized that the bookstore clerks worked an average of 38.5 hours of overtime in the past few weeks,” Hernandez said.

So, while it was frustrating at the time to have to wait for an hour or more to purchase textbooks, the bookstore clerks were working very hard to get it right.

The focus can now be on how to make it better for next year. Students should consider ordering their textbooks online and coming into the bookstore before the week that classes start.

Hernandez said that the bookstore location is being addressed at the upcoming facility master plan meeting to find a more permanent and appropriate place.