ASI
tries to increase textbook requisitions
By
Cristina Madrid
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
With only 10 percent of Cal State Long Beach professors turning in their book
requisitions on the Oct. 28 deadline for the spring semester, college deans,
associate deans, chairs, departments, academic affairs and student government
have rallied their efforts to get a higher requisition percentage.
Associated Students, Inc. President Jamie Pollock announced Nov. 2 to the Associate
Student Senate the number of professors who turned in their book requisitions.
The book requisition is a list submitted to the bookstore by faculty which
shows the facility what textbooks to order for the next semester.
“
Every semester requisitions are due. For next spring only 10 percent turned
in their requisitions on the deadline last Friday,” Pollock said. “[ASI]
is hoping that it will be solved.”
The issue is a constant battle every semester that has immediate effects on
students and the prices of textbooks at the college bookstore, Pollock said.
Fred Neely, director of Bookstore Services at the University bookstore, expressed
similar sentiments about the issue.
“
Like everyone, professors are busy and it is always about the burning priority
to get the most important things done first,” Neely said.
Neely is dedicated to lowering textbook prices for students, but without faculty’s
full cooperation he cannot accomplish this goal.
“
We require book requisitions at a certain due date because we need to do research
on the books, figuring out which come in bundles and which don’t and
also we have to add book buybacks to the lists to see how much to order,” Neely
said.
"The Chicano Latino studies (CHLS) department at CSULB had a high number
of outstanding “no adoption” status claims listed. With an 8.33 percent
turn-in rate as of Nov.1, according to a requisition response status list requested
from the University Bookstore, 24 classes in the program had 44 “no adoption” status
claims listed. This means there are 24 classes, with 44 sections in the CHLS
program that have not been assigned textbooks.
“
Mainly, the reason for why many professors haven’t turned in their requisitions
is because a number of courses are taught by part-timers and they don’t
know what they will be teaching yet,” said Victor Rodriguez, chairman
of the Chicano Latino studies department. “Also, there is no set textbook
for the courses so many research the titles.”
Rodriguez said the responsibility of reminding professors to get their requisitions
in is ultimately the role of the department.
Grace Delgado, a CHLS faculty member who has not turned in her requisition
yet, said “I’m doing the research on what textbook I will be using
and I will turn in it as soon as I decide.”
The meticulous process of getting requisitions in to order textbooks affects
prices variably.
“
Every day, every week that they are not turned, the costs of the textbooks
goes up because [the bookstore’s] costs goes up,” Neely said.
The most obvious costs the bookstore is referring to are shipping and handling.
“
The cost of the textbook remains the same whether ordered by deadline or the
first week of class, however if all professors were to meet the deadline the
bookstore could lower the prices of books because our costs wouldn’t
be’so high,” Neely said.
The university bookstore has been working with ASI over the past few semesters
to get professors to turn in their requisitions in a more timely fashion. In
a letter written by Pollock’s Chief of Staff, Robert Godina,’Pollock
and 50 other cabinet members asked their professors to turn in their requisitions
as soon as possible.
The reminders from both ASI and college faculty have been successful in raising
the percentages of submitted requisitions. As of Nov.1, the university bookstore
reported a 39.79 percent turn-in rate, a significant growth of nearly 10 percent
over past semesters, 27-30 percent. Neely, who provided these figures, said
the numbers should go up because these figures do not include the large number
of requisitions turned in Nov.2.
According to Godina’s letter, professors who have yet to submit a requisition
have two options. One is that copies of the requisition can be found at all
department offices.
Professors can also submit an electronic requisition via
e-mail at www.shopthebeach.com.
Once there, click “bookstore” then “faculty.” This
will lead professors to the page that will allow them to submit textbook requisitions
electronically.
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