Students jammed the Boston University Barnes ‘ Noble bookstore Sunday and Monday in the biannual beginning-of-semester search for course materials. Though the crowds had died down last night, Text Department Assistant Manager Rich Sullivan said he expects the rush to continue for several more days.
Students said they encountered longer lines than expected yesterday and many students had returned during the evening for shorter lines and books they couldn’t find earlier.
“We all came in at 4:30 [p.m] and the line was into the aisles,” said College of Communication sophomore Noah Coslov while searching the shelves with several friends. “We went out, grabbed some dinner and came back. The traffic’s down, but none of the books are here.”
The same happened for Wilda Camero, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences.
“It’s been pretty good, except for the long lines,” said Camero, who said she has to buy around 40 books for her classes. “The line was looping around the store, so I decided to just come back. The crowd is the same every year. If they could organize buying times by year, I think things would work a little more efficiently, although because of the huge student population they really can’t control that.”
Danielle Duggan, a sophomore in the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, said despite the crowding, she was impressed with the bookstore’s efficiency.
“It’s been crowded, but the lines moved quickly and I found all the books I needed,” she said.
“The bookstore was a little more chaotic than I expected, but the long line moved pretty efficiently,” said Stefanie Tomkins, a CAS freshman. “They’d run out of a lot of books, but they’ll get them to me — I don’t worry about that.”
Sullivan said the store has been busier than usual because of the Monday start to the semester.
“We’ve only had a problem because we’re inundated with students — we haven’t been able to clean the floor as quickly as we normally like to,” Sullivan said. “We were kind of caught off guard.”
Some students said they were disappointed because they couldn’t find all of the books they needed.
“It’s been kind of a hassle, and they’re out of the book I need to read for Wednesday,” said Kerri Garrison, a COM sophomore.
Sullivan said though the store inevitably runs out of a few books, they’ve run out of fewer books this semester.
“We were more aggressive with hunting down professors and telling them to get their book-lists in early. We did a good job with that this semester,” he said.
Several students who came searching for bargains on used books said they could not find many when they came in last night.
“I’ve been buying mostly new because that’s all that seems to be left,” Camero said.
“Used books save me money, and sometimes there are left-over highlights, which always helps, but I can’t find many right now,” Coslov said.
Though many preferred used books, some expressed a preference for new books.
“I mostly like to buy new books because I like to hold on to most of them,” Tomkins said. “They’ll probably come in handy later, and I don’t want to sell them back for like $5 or whatever I could get for them.”
“I like to buy new because it’s just easier,” said CAS freshman Ben Ho. “There aren’t left-over marks in the books and they actually feel like they’re mine.”
Many students said if they could easily buy their books online, it would be an attractive alternative. Students can order books online through the Barnes ‘ Noble-administered bookstore website, though orders must be in 30 days before the start of the semester, according to the site.
“Scheduling online is the easiest thing ever,” Coslov said. “If buying books were as user-friendly as scheduling and they didn’t charge too much for delivery, I’d definitely use it.”
“It beats the hassle of coming in and fighting for books and a spot in line,” Camero said. “I would love to take care of buying books over break.”
Online sales were down significantly this semester, according to Sullivan. He said though the service has been available for several years, the store did less to advertise online sales services this year because the management feels it is not in students’ best interests to buy their books online.
“Because we fill online orders early on, there’s less selection of used books,and students don’t get to choose which used book they get,” Sullivan said. “The longer you wait, better the selection.”
Sullivan said sometimes not all course books are available when online student orders are filled.
“Students think they can bypass the lines when they order online, but sometimes they need to come in anyway,” he said. “I still think it’s to the student’s advantage to come in because they get to know the layout of the store when they come back for books they can’t find the first time.”
Sullivan said online orders are not filled at BU because Barnes ‘ Noble runs many other colleges bookstores. He said he does not think the 30 day requirement is unreasonable.
“There’s no disadvantage to ordering books early once students know their classes,” he said.
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