Book shortage adds to college anxiety

By Lauren Goodman
Daily Forty Niner

As if the confusion and frustration of the first week of school is not enough to make a student want to drop out and continue living the life of summer leisure, college life has become a little more unsettling, sources say the bookstore has a shortage of books.

Meaning there's not enough books for all the students in the class or some of the books have not even arrived on the shelves at the bookstore.  As a result students are being forced to search elsewhere to find books.

So whose fault is it anyway? The bookstore's or the professors?

After waiting in line to check in her backpack for what seemed like an eternity, Art History Major, Sophie Manzanares was furious to find out that the bookstore did not have her books in stock.

"I would have just gone to University Text in the first place, but I had to get a syllabus at the book store anyway." Manzanares said.

"My experience at University Text was much more promising than the campus bookstore. For one University Text carried all the books I was looking for and they were cheaper too, plus I didn't have to wait in any hideous lines, she recalled."

Roman Gulon, head manager of the campus bookstore, was taken by surprise when questioned about the shortage of books at his store.

" To my knowledge there is no shortage on books. Some professors are still placing orders for textbooks due to a lot of classes just being added and some professors started placing orders at the last minute," Gulon stated.

"In many cases professors failed to submit their requisitions on time, especially part time faculty," he said
So far, Gulon stated he has not heard any complaints from students.

Although most professors are aware that their required books have not hit the shelves yet, assignments are still being assigned. Some professors say that by next week books should be available at the bookstore. Sure there are alternative sources, such as University Text, a local bookstore for college textbooks, and hopefully one has the time in their hectic school schedule to go there for their books.

In most cases students do not. The majority of college students commute to school sometimes up to an hour, and are on campus twelve hours a day. When their not on campus they usually working to pay an extensive list of bills most of which pertain to the costs of going to college.

Another source for textbooks is the Internet, where sites can be located that specialize in textbook sales. Most of these sites carry almost every book you may ever need and at a smaller price too. The only complaint with buying your books on line is waiting for the shipment to arrive.