One of the more “minor” lines in the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 was the requirement that institutions collect textbook information earlier and post it publicly, including ISBN’s. The American Council on Education published a guide to help institutions adjust to the new mandate. For good or for ill, the former monopoly that had been held by college bookstores has been substantially reduced by this act.
We have now had a full year of seeing how the guidelines have affected book orders on a widespread basis, and some faculty members complain the deadlines are simply too early. New books will be released in the next few months, new editions will be released, and other logistical issues can complicate meeting the deadlines. Moreover, some fall semester courses will not be added to the schedule until after the first published deadlines. On the other hand, department chairs report that they are having less trouble with super-late orders (i.e., orders that are placed the week before the semester begins) because of the added leverage of a “federal mandate.”
Has the change in textbook policy affected the way you identify and order textbooks for your classes?
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8 Responses to Textbook Orders
dwlewis - February 25, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Actually, the textbook provision in HEOA do not take effect until July 1, 2010.
kantopet - February 26, 2010 at 9:11 am
A bit of a challenge for new classes, but for established classes it creates an interesting situation of putting the onus on textbook publishers to have their editions in place much earlier. (Though who becomes liable if they don’t is an interesting question.) Hopefully, and at least for a little while, this will reduce the new edition every year shell game in the industry, which, so far as I can tell, greatly increases costs and thus textbook prices in the attempt to generate revenue.
afprj - February 27, 2010 at 2:56 am
Is this not odd, that the Federal government should be micromanaging how colleges and their bookstores manage textbooks?What next?
kerr7920 - February 28, 2010 at 7:58 am
Not implemented yet. But I’ve been receiving emails requests from students for textbook titles and ISBNs in the weeks before the semester begins for several years now.But with the impending arrival of digital texts, the college bookstore will soon be out of the text-selling business and stick to selling supplies, sweatshirts and other logo paraphernalia. This won’t, however, provide much relief for students, as digital texts in proprietary formats will eliminate the used text market completely.
rfisher - March 1, 2010 at 9:41 am
From my College Bookstore Administrator viewpoint I can say that while the requirements don’t become effective until July 1, 2010, we have been compliant for several months. The challenges are not great to meet and most College Bookstore’s are open for the change. The stores that are challenged by the requirements are those minority of store’s that are trying to control the release of the information. It appears that those store’s that are Contracted out or store’s that are off-campus and not run by the institution are the store’s that are most vocal about the requirements. The majority of Institutionally run stores have already or soon will be compliant.I can understand the concerns coming from Academics, but from an Auxiliary side, I truly believe these changes will help students reduce their textbook expenses. It is unfortunate for us all that the Federal Government had to force institutions into this. I will also point out the Textbook amendments also require publishers to change the way that textbooks are offered.MbrancaDirector, The College StorePennsylvania College of Technologymbranca@pct.edu
bergesod - March 1, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Just a couple of thoughts: the use of the word “monopoly” applied to college bookstores continues the myth that somehow college bookstores are the culprits behind high textbook prices. Nothing could be further from the truth. Publishers have historically established prices and faculty choose the titles. Monopoly typically refers to one corporate entity dominating a market and in this context would seem to imply collusion amongst college bookstoresOur campus booksotre has made title lists available to our students with prices and ISBNs for over 20 years. Most students choose to purchase their books from us because of the convenience it offers them and the service we give them, but they’re free to shop wherever they choose. Federal legislation wasn’t required to give them this opportunity. And no amount of federal legislation will ensure that we get book lists from faculty six months earlier than we currently do.
sici3302 - March 3, 2010 at 1:10 pm
I think some of the confusion is because there are two vastly different types of “college bookstores” these days. Many college-owned bookstores are a break-even operation, focused on meeting the needs of the students. They’ve been pro-active about makint ISBNs available, and keeping costs down in other ways.Recently though, many colleges have found that they can use the bookstore as a cash generating machine. They often contract with a large company like Barnes & Noble to run their on-campus bookstore. The contract will allow the bookstore to set higher markups, and in return the bookstore will pay the college a half-million or so per year (and that’s not counting the signing bonus!). In those cases, the bookstores are not eager to publizice the ISBN numbers at all. Of course, that money is coming out of our students’ pockets, and the ones who are hurt the most are usually the poorest ones – they often don’t have the information, access, or credit card necessary to order the book from a less expensive online site. Colleges also have similar contracts with food service vendors.
lauranealabd - March 4, 2010 at 12:46 pm
As a disability services coordinator I frequently need to request textbooks in alternate format – typically pdfs, from publishers. This can take weeks (for less than 10 full-time students). I am thrilled that I can get the information early without repeated e-mails to professors, wrong ISBN numbers etc… And the student can potentially order the books in e-format where available, or try to find the book cheaper. Hooray!