University of Wisconsin senior Jennifer Peterson was annoyed. She spent two hours last Monday afternoon looking for books, and she was fed up.

“I’ve been running all over campus today trying to find these stupid books,” she said. “I don’t have time for this.”

Peterson said she was accustomed to going to the University Book Store for all her textbooks and did not understand why some of her teachers insisted on boycotting the largest campus bookstore.

“I wish they would just order their books at the school’s bookstore,” Peterson said.

It is students like this who make Allen Ruff, textbook coordinator at Rainbow Book Co-op, cringe.

“Most students think the University Book Store is part of the university,” he lamented. “I think they get discombobulated if they have to go to three different places for books.”

“I know for some it’s a big step for them to cross Lake Street,” he joked.

Rainbow is just one of a number of small, independent bookstores on campus working to take a little more of the textbook pie through promises of individualized service, competitive prices and quick response.

And it looks like things may be turning their way.

According to Scheibel, UBS has seen no growth in recent years. However, A Room of One’s Own, Canterbury Books, Rainbow and Underground Booksellers have all seen an increase in sales over the past decade. Sometimes, in the case of Underground, this has totaled as much as 25 percent per year.

Professors who make the bookstore switch name a variety of reasons for doing so: they name poor experiences at UBS and a commitment to supporting small booksellers as their main reasons.

Women’s studies professor Anne Enke said she orders through A Room of One’s Own and Rainbow because they support small presses.

“I’m just really committed to free press and democracy, and those are interests that small presses serve,” Enke said. “They’re struggling because their greatest support comes from independent bookstores, so if [independent bookstores] get driven out, so do the presses.”

Although smaller stores are gaining ground in the textbook market, owners cited several obstacles they say are holding them back from reaching their goals.

Troy Gerkey, co-owner of Underground Booksellers, came to Madison three years ago and says UW professors have been far from helpful in providing their book lists, although this is a service required by law.

“If we wanted to be big jerks, we could knock on professors’ doors with lawyers and demand [the lists],” he said.

However, Gerkey said, he and his co-workers call every instructor and ask them what books they are using.

Professor Michael Hinden tells both UBS and Underground his book list to give students an option.

“I’ve always used University Book Store because they’ve been around a long time and they’re handy, but I also use Underground to give them business,” Hinden said.

Stephen Scheibel of UBS said he’s not worried about their plateau, and that competition is healthy.

“Everybody is aggressive,” he said. “Competition is good for customers and good for business. They’ve done a good job; we’ve done a good job as well.”

However, it cannot be denied that the turnaround in UBS’ business is certainly a new phenomenon. UBS is UW’s oldest textbook provider. It started 108 years ago as a book-buying co-op and has seen fairly steady growth since.

“I’m guessing it was probably one of the first in the country,” UBS vice president Pat McGowan said.

Although UBS is independent from UW, it does contribute a percentage of its goods and profits to scholarships and programs. In the last couple years, said McGowan, the store has contributed $60,000 in scholarship money to the school.

History

Although on the surface, campus textbook giant UBS may seem infallible, it has weathered its share of problems.

UBS was accused of discrimination in May 1992 when president and CEO John H. Epple dismissed long-term lesbian employee Lois Corcoran. Although Epple denied the accusation that he was homophobic, local gay-rights groups boycotted the store. Epple eventually retired, but local activists have not forgotten the accusations.

“I won’t shop at University for several reasons, but mainly because I think it’s a monopoly and because I’ve always heard they discriminate against homosexuals,” said Madison resident Rose Miller.

McGowan contends any issues of discrimination are in the past.

“There’s absolutely not a single shred of discrimination in University Book Store,” McGowan said. “That’s gone. It’s been settled.”

But McGowan admits the incident still resonates in Madison.

“It’s not a highlight in the history of the University Book Store,” he said. “It gave the bookstore a black eye, and it was difficult for the company to go through.”

However, he insists, “The issue is behind us and was a long time ago.”

So who’s getting rich off our textbook dollars?

Despite those setbacks, UBS officials contend the store has a lot to be proud of.

In particular, it prides itself on a strong used-book program, which, it asserts, keeps UW textbook costs lower than at many schools.

“The buy-back policies at our bookstore are really strict, so most students don’t get a chance to sell their old books back,” said Marie Lister, a junior at Grinnell University in Iowa. “Unfortunately, that means we have little opportunity to buy used.”

Scheibel said UBS’ flexible buy-back policies make used books its greatest strength.

“We buy back books year-round, and we pay as much as can be paid,” he said. “That’s our place in the market.”

It’s a fact: Textbooks are costly. And according to Gerkey, many students fault the retailer.

“Students blame bookstores, we blame wholesalers, they blame us for selling used books,” Gerkey said.

It seems the rising cost of new books is taking its toll on students.

Studies show that instead of paying the price, more and more students are foregoing bookstores entirely.

Laura Nakoneczny, spokesperson for the National Association of College Stores, and her co-workers have been examining this new trend in college students for three years, and every year they’ve seen a rise in the number of books sold for a particular class.

For instance, explained Nakoneczny, a teacher usually orders about 80 books for a class of 100 students, assuming some students will share, find the book somewhere else or borrow from the library. However, researchers are more often seeing the number of sales for a particular class decrease to in some cases as low as 40 sales in a class of 100.

“The prices have gotten so out of hand, students might try to jeopardize their education by simply hoping to get by without using the book at all,” Nakoneczy said. “That’s not something we want to see.”

When UW senior Angela Olson took a summer English class last year, she was appalled at the thought of spending $200 on popular novels. Instead, she went to Memorial Library, where she could check out the books for months at a time.

“I try not to buy the books if I can get away with it,” Olson said.

Although campus bookstores aren’t seeing a cut in profits, Nakoneczny said she will not be surprised if it happens soon.

“For the first time, we are starting to see students who just say no to buying textbooks,” she said.

Nakoneczny offered several tips for students to ensure they get their money’s worth:

— Go to class before you buy your books and find out which material is core for the class, as opposed to material that is not essential.

— Look for used books when possible.

— If you absolutely cannot afford to buy books, talk to your professor and see if they can help.

— Keep receipts in case you drop the class.

Unfortunately, said Nakoneczny, sometimes you’ve just got to grin and bear it.

“Textbooks are expensive! Are you kidding me? Textbooks are really expensive!”

But it’s important to put them in context, she added.

“The textbook didn’t come from somebody’s imagination. It took a lot of work and research. The bookstore has to buy it and ship it in. All that stuff adds up.”

UW junior Liz Kas is among the students who think textbooks are overpriced, and she has proof to back up her claim.

Last semester, Kas looked online for her books and found them for cheaper than they were sold on campus.

But, she said, buying online had its downfalls.

“I had a different edition than everyone else in class, which is annoying when you’re an English major,” she said. “It saved a lot of money, but it wasn’t worth it.”

In Madison, especially, it seems students are getting their money’s worth.

“Our pricing structure is in the lowest 5 percent of pricing structures in the nation,” McGowan said. “It’s a constant challenge to tell students that.”

UW-Madison and the rest of the country

When lamenting over “overpriced” textbook sales, Kas compared UW-Madison to her first school, UW-Eau Claire. Eau Claire, along with several other UW schools, is on a textbook-rental program, where students simply “check out” their necessary books from the university instead of buying them. Their book fees (usually less than $75 per semester) are included in tuition.

“I think the textbook-rental system is the best because you don’t have to worry about anything,” Kas said.

Unfortunately for Kas, UW-Madison may not be the ideal school for a rental system.

Virgil Monroe, manager of UW-River Falls’ textbook-rental service, said although it works well for them, it’s a difficult program to implement.

“It costs a lot to establish a rental system,” he said. “For us, it grew up gradually.”

In addition to high initial costs, a rental program can have a negative effect on the books professors use.

“Sometimes professors don’t replace textbooks as often as they should,” Monroe said.

The main advantage of renting, Monroe said, is that every student has a book.

“With the rental system, if we have 35 students in the class, 35 students are going to get the book.”

Monroe said the rental system is primarily a Midwest phenomenon. It exists in seven of the UW System schools and a few schools in Illinois and Missouri.

If the Midwest is home to the rental system, than the East Coast can be known for the idea of contract management, which makes up about one-third of campus bookstores.

An example of contract management is Yale University, which invited bookstore giant Barnes and Noble College Store to replace their campus bookstore. Barnes and Noble now gets all Yale’s textbook sales in return for donating 7 percent of their profits back to the school.

It’s a trend that Nakoneczny said is steadily rising.

Nakoneczny said many universities see contract management as a way to maximize profits for a school.

“It presents students with materials they need and takes the burden of running a business operation off the school.”

However, she warned, the system has its drawbacks.

“Sometimes schools get into it and their expectation of the relationship [with the retailer] is different,” Nakoneczny said. “The private corporations’ concerns may or may not be as related to the university as an institutional store.”

In addition, many college students feel slighted if their campus has only one textbook store.

Marie Lister said having a university-sponsored bookstore makes her suspicious of price inflation.

“Most students here feel like there is a monopoly, but we don’t have any other choice,” she said.

Although she admitted Grinnell (with a population of 1,345) would probably not be able to support another store, Lister said she felt there are other solutions.

“If professors would send out their book lists before classes start, then students could buy books while still at home,” she said.
The bottom line, said Nakoneczny, is that no one is getting rich off our textbook sales.
“It’s not an industry that’s particularly wealthy,” she said. “Most people in it are trying to give students the best deal they can.”