Barnes & Noble will continue to operate the University Book Center after the state approved a new five-year, $9.3 million contract between the university and the corporation yesterday.
University officials said the contract will ultimately lead to cheaper books and that Barnes & Noble is well-suited to handle the provisions of a new state law designed to increase competition in the textbook industry, such as posting extensive textbook information online and promoting the sale of used books. But the leader of an off-campus bookstore said the company is more interested in making money than providing the best deals to students.
The campus bookstore already meets most of the requirements of the state law, which requires ISBN numbers, previous edition information and other details to be posted online three weeks after faculty make their final selection so that students can shop around for best prices. Posting information online is already part of Barnes & Noble’s current contract with UBC and is carried over into the new contract, according to Jim Osteen, an assistant vice president of student affairs.
“The decision to continue with a large textbook dealer as the operator for our store on campus is linked to their ability to have greater purchasing power in a variety of ways, particularly as it relates to used books,” Osteen said. “We’ve had a focus on used books and we’ve worked hard to get faculty to adopt textbooks early so we can buy back as many copies as possible and have a good inventory.”
Since the university began making textbook information widely available, the sale of new textbooks has continued to decrease, falling by $1.6 million since 2003, according to the UBC contract proposal. Sales of used textbooks have been on the rise, increasing by about $500,000 in that same timeframe.
Those figures led to bids that were less than expected when UBC was seeking a new contract, Stamp Student Union Director Gretchen Metzelaars said in a previous interview with The Diamondback. And because they are expected to continue to decline, her department plans on asking the Student Fee Review Board to increase fees next semester to cover Student Entertainment Events programming and other initiatives, which revenue from the bookstore helps pay for.
The Board of Public Works – which consists of Gov. Martin O’Malley, state Comptroller Peter Franchot and state Treasurer Nancy Kopp, all Democrats – approved the contract yesterday.
But while the bookstore will comply with state and federal guidelines that seek to provide cheaper textbooks to students, some say they don’t go far enough.
John Verde, the CEO of Bookholders, said that while the bill is a good start, the most effective portions – such as promoting the use of older editions instead of newer ones – were mutilated and will hurt competition in the long run. He blamed the university, whose lobbyists worked hard to defeat the Textbook Competition and Affordability Act, for being “addicted to the revenue” that comes from the campus bookstore, instead of being focused on providing good deals to students. He also said Barnes & Noble is one of the worst offenders when it comes to high prices, often charging more than the publisher’s suggested retail price for both new and used books.
“The university thinks of the campus bookstore as a revenue stream, which is a conflict of interest,” he said. “Instead of working to increase competition and lower prices, in some cases, they stifle it. They’re not focused on providing the best deals and the best products to students.”
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