Bookstore to Reopen Under New Management

The University’s bookstore started a new chapter this week.

Barnes & Noble, which has run the bookstore for years, is being replaced by Follett Higher Education Group, which won the contract to operate the bookstore through 2019.

But the transition may be a bumpy one. For little more than a week – from Oct. 30 through Nov. 8 – the bookstore will be closed. There will be a gap in the bookstore’s online presence as well while Barnes & Noble shutters the Web site and Follett takes over to launch a new one on Nov. 9.

Assistant Vice President for Procurement Management Pete Bond said a committee of nine – composed of university students, faculty and staff – reviewed proposals from bookstore operators.  The committee recommended the contract be awarded to Follett.

The contract calls for Follett to participate in the funding and construction of the new Campus Services and bookstore facility. It is scheduled for completion in late 2010 or early 2011.

Follett will finish-out the bookstore portion of the new facility and contribute an additional $200,000 toward the cost of this new facility. The new Bookstore will be 50 percent larger than the existing store.

Procurement Management is a division of the Office of the Vice President of Business Affairs.

To help smooth the transition of bookstore partners, Follett is hosting an informal, informational dessert reception for faculty and staff of each school in the Dining Hall on Thursday, Oct. 29, to discuss the book adoption process. Faculty are asked to bring their adoptions to the reception and turn them in to the new bookstore personnel.

When a book has been adopted for the next semester, students benefit when it comes time to sell their used books.

This return of book adoptions, usually mid-October for the spring semester, allows the bookstore to begin looking for used books, which can save students 25 percent off the price of a new textbook. And, with an adoption from an instructor, the Bookstore can offer more for a book sold by a student at buyback.

As Follett begins stocking the store and training personnel, the company says it will serve students who need Scantrons or other required class items in the lobby of the bookstore. Follett also plans to staff a Homecoming tent on Oct. 31.

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