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Thursday, Aprill, 1999 - Page 12 FEATURES Behind the Scenes: Investigation: Where does all the Sharpe and Szymanski help Bookstore money go? Hoover run smoothly Part Three-in a series investigating WMC'sfinancial policy BY RICH SIMMONS shape and nature of the library it- As.#slall/ Features EdiTOr self. BY RICH SUCHOSKI If not enough students sell their A text cannot be sold back if the "It's a: dynamic kind of job," DisrribuliQnManager texts back, the bookstore can find Hoover Library is not only the bookstore has no storage space left "To get the materials most frequented of all campus says Sharpe, that are relevant to the Sixty, eighty, even one hundred the same titles on the national used or there is no demand on the used and books buildings, but in the eyes of most currently enrolled student, we have dollars for a new textbook. This is book distribution market. book market for the text. students at western Maryland, it is neither uncommon or outlandish if Book Buyback every semester If this is the case, MBS will not to pay attention to the course cata- one looks at the process behind the most important. From refer- causes as much, if not more, moan- pay anything for the text. Also, if log, talk to the faculty, and pay at- pricing a text. ing and groaning from the students the professor has not sent in the re- tention to the types of materials stu- The publisher is the one who than originally buying the texts. quest for next semester's text, the dents are looking for." sets the cost of the text to the dis- Students go to the bookstore to bookstore doesn't know to buy it Another favorite of students is tributor, such as Barnes and sell back their texts, and there they back or not. Lois Szymanski, the front desk su- Nobles. They also set the price it find out they only get back a frac- If the current edition of the pervisor, who is currently busy hav- should be on the shelves. tion of the price that they paid, hardcover or large format soft ing her eighth and ninth children's The text is usually priced so the grumble a bit, stomp their feet, and cover text is being used next semes- , books published. She has also writ- publisher gels 67% of the cost of then hand over their hardly used ter, the bookstore wi!! buy the text ten for both the Baltimore Sun and the new text, 9% goes [0 the au- $80 text for $25 or less. back at 50% of the selling price and the Carrol! County Times as a re- thor, and the remaining percentage Surprisingly enough, this is a resell it for 75% of the original porter. from the sale goes to Barnes and decent price for the text if it's not price. She acts as a "second-in-com- Nobles for shipping and salaries. being used for next semester's In addition to the text being mand" for Jane Sharpe, helping her If the publisher does not set a classes or not the current edition. used next semester, the pages must perform her duties as well as mak- price, then Barnes and Nobles sets The bookstore does nOI have the -be "free of any highlighting, under- ing sure the front desk runs a minimum markup to cover these lining, or notes which make the text smoothly. Any close observer can TRANG DAM costs. illegible," according to the used Lois Szymanski ij· (/ favorite of see that the two are fast friends. According to Ethan Seidel, vice Sixty, eighty, even book pamphlet in the bookstore. many students. president for administration and fi- one hundred dollars Kyle Meloche, bookstore man- and microfiche, students search the nance, WMC does not receive any ager siuce January 1997, is very lib- halls of Hoover every day for the cut from the text sales. Barnes and for a new textbook. eral about the policy. information that their courses re- Nobles rents the space out from the This is neither Writing in books is ok just as quire. college and pays the college a fixed long as it doesn't block out the text Along the path to finding the rate. uncommon or or the pages aren't ripped. ''The materials they need, they might just If text sales go over some mu- only thing we won't take back are get a little help from Jane Sharpe tually agreed limit, the college re- outlandish if one workbooks which have been writ- and Lois Szymanski. These two are ceives a percentage of the looks at the process ten in, starting two years ago. If perennial fixtures in Hoover, oversales. This has happened only there are any on the shelves with planted firmly behind the circula- once in the past six years, so it's behind pricing a writing in them they are from that tion desk. They are often seen but not an issue. text. time or from wholesalers fMBS]." not often appreciated by the stu- Seven years ago the bookstore Previous managers were scared dents that pass in and out of the li- was college owned and run. The to take risks and buy back excess brary each day. prices were steeper because the storage space to save books for two texts for the next semester. Jane Sharpe, a 30-year veteran WMC bookstore wasn't a major semesters ahead. Also, a newer edi- Since Kyle became store man- of Hoover Library, is the Access distributor. tion might come out in the mean- TRANG DAM ager the number of texts bought Services Librarian. When Sharpe Jane Sharp has worked at Hoover Barnes and Nobles came in, time, making the one they put in back has increased. The spring of came to the Western Maryland for 30 years. recarpeted and renovated the space, storage useless. '98 saw a 36.1 % increase from the campus in October of 1970 she had vises at the front desk. She says that and brought in lower prices due to This is where the Missouri previous semester, and in fall '98, two goals, to help the students in interacting with students possessed the fact they could get deals on Book Services (MBS) comes in. it increased again 22. t %. any way possible and make the li- of so many different personalities texts WMC alone couldn't. MBS gives the student a percent- Unfortunately, publishers don't brary a better place. and backgrounds has taught her a To help keep the prices down age of what the text is worth ac- like the idea of book buyback be- In the years since, her service- lot about herself. for students, professors can buy the cording to the original selling price cause they receive none of the prof- oriented outlook and forward- Lois Szymanski and Jane soft cover version of the text, if and the current demand for the text its from the sales. minded approach has made her a Sharpe are an essential part of available. They can also opt to stick on the market. In order to get back in the loop, favorite among the library staff and Hoover Library. Although perhaps with previous editions. This percentage is usually low they print new editions. Some of the students who have gotten to unrecognized by many of the stu- Students selling their books due to the costs of shipping it to a these have significant changes, know her. dents who benefit from their work, back will get more for them from central location and storing it for bringing the text up to speed, but Sharpe says that what makes her Lois Szymanski and Jane Sharpe the bookstore buying them and re- months or years before it can be most of the reprints are just to dis- job rewarding is her contact with are an essential part of Hoover selling them next semester. resold. courage the sales of used texts. the students and the ever-changing Library's smooth running. Classified nnual ISU For Sale Help Wanted assover Seder Lifeguards/ Pool Ma~ pril1,1999 5.0 Mustang GT Automatic EXTRA INCOME FOR '98 Summer Months, FT J PT PA inspected to 699 op-notch Maine summer cam, Eam $000 - Sl 000 weekly stuffing resident's Dining Training Available for: envelopes. 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