December 5, 2002

No doubt, the question posed at the September 5th Faculty Association was brought up due to our store having run out of certain textbooks. I share the concern of faculty and students on this one! We all lose in out-of-stock situations, which we try very hard to avoid. The following is a brief introduction to the reasons why we order what we do and what I plan to do in terms of making things better for all concerned.

The Bookstore uses the estimated enrollment provided by faculty members as a starting point. We do not, however, base all of our buying decisions strictly on faculty estimations for several reasons. First, the estimates tend to be high in some cases (in Spring Term, the faculty estimate was 61% higher than actual books sold). Secondly, we are not the only source for textbooks (in Spring Term, we sold a book to 49% of enrolled students). What we try to do is get as close as possible to achieving our goal of returning less than 25% of the books ordered (we returned 47% in Spring). The difficulty with this term is that our most valuable resource was not available to us: history of past orders. This was our first Fall Term and it was no doubt a difficult one. Cancelled sections, added sections (with little or no warning), publisher problems, our own errors in ordering, over-enrollment and record sales numbers all complicated the process (we were 31% over-budget for August). Furthermore, more than 25% of the book orders were turned into us within 10 days of the start of classes. When that happens, last minute adjustments due to swings in enrollment are nearly impossible. Still, 95% of the titles we ordered never ran out (a quick look at our shelves will demonstrate that our guessing tends to be in the over-estimating range. Despite running out of certain key titles, 40% of ordered copies remain on our shelves).

However, we know that it is our job to supply the students of UNF with course materials. Now that we have survived a spring, summer, and fall term we know that we will have better results. Using faculty estimates, past history, and up-to-date enrollment numbers (we are in the process of getting to-the-minute access to enrollment numbers provided for us), we will make better buying decisions in the future. We are, unfortunately, not an exception to the growing pains that go along with an increasing campus population. We accept any advice/suggestions that a faculty member would like to provide us. This is a process that begins with timely book orders (your role) and constant follow-though (our role). We sold more books than ever this term and I look forward to ordering more books in those classes that need them and continue to reduce the quantities on those classes with poor sell-through. Equipped with the necessary history and more accurate and timely enrollment information, we will no doubt fulfill expectations in the coming terms.

In the meantime, please make sure that book orders arrive in store prior to the due date of October 16th. We will be handing out forms to secretaries beginning Monday, September 23rd. If we have historically ordered an insufficient quantity of books for your course in past semesters, please make note of that on your order. We would be more than happy to order what you think we need to. If we find the number to be far greater than what we think is needed, we will contact you to discuss the situation. It is not our goal to run out of books when students need them and we will do what we can to get it right.

Sincerely,

Jeremy E. Johnson
Bookstore Manager
Ext.2648
Unf@bkstr.com