Bookstores
Lowering the cost of course materials will have an impact on the campus store. However, Oregon’s bookstore managers are committed to student success and want to find a solution to the problem of unaffordable textbooks.
You may have heard that lower bookstore revenue could hurt your institution’s bottom line. It’s true that some campus stores contribute a percentage of their profit to the general fund. However, artificially high textbook prices are not a sustainable way to support the general fund (and most revenue from commercial textbook sales goes back to the publisher rather than the bookstore or the general fund anyhow).
Faculty can help by letting the campus store know right away when they change their course materials adoption, so that the bookstore manager doesn’t stock textbooks that will not be used.
Campus stores are already the experts on print copies. Your bookstore manager can help you with getting student access to print:
- Ready-made copies (OpenStax model)
- Print on demand (interior PDF and cover available)
- Print from scratch
- Fulfill online orders
Policy
Campus stores help institutions comply with federal, state, and local policies.
- Federal: Higher Education Opportunity Act requires reporting on cost of attendance, including course materials.
- State: HB 2871 in Oregon mandates that no-cost and low-cost course materials be designated in the schedule.
- Campus: e.g. tracking and stocking default adoptions
Data
Campus stores can provide a wealth of data to help instituions better understand faculty and student choices. What materials are being used? Which courses don’t require a purchase? Which materials aren’t being purchased? OER leaders on campus can collaborate with bookstore managers to answer these questions and more.