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Palomar College bookstore employee Prawet Vongtawan completes a transaction with Lauren Jimenez, an Aviation major during the final week of classes.

Palomar students search for answers from bookstore

By: Breanna Harrison

Posted: 12/10/07

With the spring semester a little more than a month away, the issue of hunting down much-needed textbooks at Palomar College will soon come to the forefront once again.

Many students have had trouble finding textbooks at the Palomar bookstore.

It's either sold out or just not available at all. While many of the books can be ordered through the bookstore, it may take weeks for them to arrive.

Palomar student Stephanie Bowker said she has had to order textbooks at the store because they didn't have it, but she doesn't believe they would be able to improve their service. She said they always have the textbooks she needs at the Off Campus bookstore.

Student Derric Cordova said he has also had to order textbooks because they have been sold out, but it's never been a disaster.

"I usually try not to go in there as much 'cause it's always crowded," Cordova said. He said his only problem is at the beginning of the semester the lines take too long.

The bookstore has had a contract with the bookstore provider Follett Higher Education Group since 1999. This contract also does not allow bookstore employees to do interviews, said the Palomar campus bookstore manager Jim Crockett.

Follett Higher Education Group is a family-owned company that has been operating for 133 years and manages more than 750 bookstores nationwide including Palomar.

African American Studies teacher Paula Johnson had to reorder a textbook for her class because the book apparently had sold out before the semester started.

"The email I got was that they bought all the books they could and there wasn't gonna be enough in time for the semester," Johnson said. "They had 30 books and sold out of them."

The required text that was ordered again didn't arrive in the bookstore for two weeks after this semester had already started, Johnson said it might have taken so long because the books were ordered a week before school started, she said.

A fall 2007 issue of a faculty newsletter, called "Acumen," published and provided by Follett's Higher Education said 'your campus bookstore has the obligation to provide all the materials that are required for a course in the right quantities prior to the start of a term or semester.'

Johnson said she would like to become more familiar with accessing books because she hasn't had enough experience, being a new teacher.

"If they don't know if they can get enough shipment they should suggest another book, this would help new teachers and not through email," Johnson said.

Johnson also said she believes the textbooks are too expensive.

"I think like everything else in life the textbooks are a luxury, like the cost of living," Johnson said. "That's why I dig the online thing."

Student Brittany Baca said the bookstore has never been sold out of a textbook she needed and she has never had trouble finding a textbook, she thinks they're too expensive. Baca said she ordered her textbooks online last year and they were a lot cheaper.

Some required materials for courses are also not available at all in the on-campus bookstore, because some teachers give their personal material list to the Off Campus Bookstore alone.

Hamid Radvar, the Off Campus Bookstore manager, said the professors send them a list of books and they also get a list from the on-campus bookstore.

The Off Campus Bookstore receives most of their used books from students unless a new book is published then they order them through independent companies.

Follett controls the on-campus bookstore, but students can use other sources to purchase books on time and at cheaper prices.

Students can access web sites such as Amazon.com, half.com and cheapertextbooks.com to buy textbooks at lower prices than most bookstores.