UNIVERSITYbookstore
To: University Academic Community
From: Tony Glaab, Associate Manager – UBS Allendale
Re: Winter 2008 textbook requisition deadline
Date: September 21, 2007
Textbook requisitions for winter 2008 semester must be submitted by Friday, October 26, 2007. Following is an excerpt from a March 2007 memorandum from the bookstore explaining the reasons for needing book orders by the specified dates.
...University Bookstore is dedicated to providing superior service and offering competitive pricing to the academic community. This is precisely why we ask for textbook requisitions when we do.
We are cognizant of increasing costs—including textbooks—in higher education, and we do everything we can to lower the price of course materials for students. Buyback is our primary means of making textbooks more affordable by increasing the availability of used books. Students save money during the initial purchase of used books, and also have the opportunity to recover some of their financial investment when they sell books at the end of the semester, thereby lowering the net cost of their books.
When faculty order books according to the established due dates, we have more time to procure used textbooks from wholesale companies and partner stores, saving students twenty-five percent or more versus the price of purchasing new books...There is a direct correlation between the number of faculty orders that are submitted by deadline and the overall cost of textbooks to students.
Furthermore, when timelines are observed, the bookstore staff has more time to research and identify potential problems with textbook orders. We can then communicate these to faculty, and allow more time for selection of replacement textbooks. We understand need for adequate time to evaluate textbook selection, but we also want to emphasize the impact that late orders have on the ordering process.
Remember that the faculty access area on the University Bookstore websiteis a full-service destination for instructors and academic office coordinators.
Submit new requisitions or re-use orders from historical data
Research textbooks on one of three partner sites
Link to CopyCenter and enter jobs
Read important news & announcements from University Bookstore
We have or will be posting updated information regarding international standard book numbers (ISBN’s) and coursepacks to the faculty access page, but I wanted to address them in this communication also.
ISBN: As of January 2007, the book industry transitioned from 10-digit to 13-digit ISBN’s because publishers were literally running out of unique numbers for new books. We REQUIRE the 13-digit number on all textbook requisitions. By providing the 13-digit number that begins with 978-, you will insure that you are communicating the correct data to the bookstore. Additionally, I want to stress that the ISBN is the most crucial detail to include on a book order; this is what we use to order, so please make sure that the textbook information provided coincides with the corresponding ISBN.
COURSEPACKS:If you intend to use a coursepack, please complete a textbook requisition, even if you are not using a traditional textbook for the course. This will allow bookstore staff to allocate shelf space and to inform students that a material is forthcoming. Please indicate whether the coursepack will be produced in-house or outsourced to a third party company that clears copyrights. If the latter, please indicate which company or contact UBS to discuss options. For lab manuals and coursepacks that were used for Fall 2007 semester, please inform the bookstore whether or not changes will be made for winter. Please refer to the updated coursepack memo under the faculty access link on the University Bookstore website for coursepack submission procedures. All coursepack originals must be submitted to UBS by Friday, November 30, 2007 and be accompanied by the new COURSEPACK SUBMISSION FORM to insure timely production and delivery for winter semester.
Please keep in mind that the turn-around time for winter semester is minimal and we need your continued cooperation to make sure we have all the information and course materials as early as possible.
As always, please contact us if you have any questions or need clarification regarding any of the procedures outlined in this memorandum.
Tony GlaabRitch Bentley
Associate ManagerAssistant Manager, Textbooks
University Bookstore – AllendaleUniversity Bookstore – DeVos
616.331.2454616.331.6647