Mar 11 2009
Ordering Textbooks: May the Rituals Commence
“In the case of good books, the point is not how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.” – Mortimer Adler
It goes without saying that some of my best friends are books. I prefer to read them, to teach their content, to absorb their knowledge. I prefer not, however, to participate in the ritualistic textbook ordering processes each semester. As if I had a choice!
The first notification from the college bookstore requesting orders arrives in my inbox, sized no less than 3MB. Within the hour, I receive another two copies of this notice forwarded to me by academic administrators. A few hours later, I receive a notification from IT that my inbox has exceeded its maximum size. I assure the IT department that I have no problem deleting files.Prior to submitting textbook orders, course syllabi are reviewed and updated as necessary. This is to reflect the latest editions of textbooks, as perhaps the edition purchased two years ago is no longer in print. It is a good bet that next semester approximately half of the class will have the older edition, because the new edition is more expensive and there are no used copies available.
Textbook orders are initially submitted to the department administrative assistant. Revisions from the previous semester are clearly highlighted, but this is no guarantee that either the administrative assistant or the bookstore staff will take notice. And in a few rare cases – Surprise! – Publishers will ship new editions of a textbook without prior notification to the faculty or to the college bookstore.There is about a two-month lag from the time textbook orders are placed to their arrival at the bookstore. The accuracy of the actual textbook deliveries cannot be determined until the first week of class for the following semester, when students thank their (surprised) instructors for not requiring any textbooks for a course.
It is at this point the college bookstore is informed that not only is there a text for the course, but in the ten years the course has been offered, there always has been a textbook. Never has the course been without a textbook. The order forms specified the textbook. The course syllabus specified the textbook. Even the students believed they would need to purchase a textbook.So how could the bookstore make such an obvious error?
Sentence Completion: 5 Points Extra CreditThe bookstore did not order the requested course textbook because ____________________________!
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This must be frustrating. Thanks for sharing
….. they were too busy doing Word Searches in the back room to be bothered
…. they are related to the IT guys that also usually can’t be bothered