With U. partnernship, Labyrinth sees increase in course book sales

There was also a 46 percent drop in the number of packages delivered to campus during the spring semester, possibly indicating a decline in the number of orders students placed at discount textbook giants like Amazon.com.

The store sold 75,000 course books this year, which Labyrinth co-owner Dorothea von Moltke — speaking at a meeting of the Council of the Princeton University Community on Monday — said improved its financial situation. The program, von Moltke said, also brought an improvement in the bookstore’s relationship with undergraduate students.

“Students came to Labyrinth and knew they were getting a good deal,” von Moltke said. “Students spent more time in store and saw us more as a resource. They would come downstairs to get course books, but then they would wander the aisles upstairs too. And this is really our goal on the whole.”

Due to the success of this year’s pilot program, the partnership will continue into the 2012-13 school year. In addition to the 30 percent discount on course books and 15 percent discount on non-course books, the partnership gave students access to an online tool for easy textbook purchasing.

The tool, operated through Blackboard, allows students to see most lists of course books two weeks before the start of classes, order books online through Blackboard and pick them up pre-packaged at Labyrinth ahead of the start of classes.

At the CPUC meeting, Director of Contract Management for University Services Maureen McWhirter said the pilot program mutually benefited faculty, students, the University and Labyrinth. She cited a 25-percent increase in faculty submissions of course book lists to Labyrinth during the 2011-12 school year.

Based on responses from faculty and students, University Services determined that both groups appreciated the ease of use of the online book-ordering tool. McWhirter estimated that 70-80 percent of students used the tool.

The 30-percent discount on course books was included to incentivize students to shop at Labyrinth, McWhirter said.

A buyback program, through which Labyrinth pays students back for books based on the retail price rather than based on the price after the 30 percent discount, supplemented these rebates. Both the discount and the online tool will be continued into 2012-13.

McWhirter added that the partnership helped ensure more students had course books in hand by the start of classes and had done the reading, easing the transition into the new semester.

The partnership also put the University in compliance with the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, which

requires universities to publicize the costs of course books before the semester begins.

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The conversation at the CPUC meeting then turned to e-textbooks and their future at the University. Von Moltke noted that, despite the hype, online textbooks make up only a tiny fraction of textbook sales in the United States in 2011.

“The radical transformation that everyone has anticipated, this shift to digitalization, is on a somewhat receding horizon line,” she said.

Obstacles to embracing the technology include low student demand and a lack of common platform between e-textbooks and all e-readers, she explained. Von Moltke also noted that there is minimal added value that exists with current e-reader technology, as reading an e-textbook is often no different from reading an online PDF, she noted.

In the question-and-answer portion following McWhirter’s and Von Moltke’s presentations, an attendee raised a question about the University subsidy.

In response, Provost Christopher Eisgruber ’83 noted that the University benefits in a number of ways from the partnership. For example, the partnership helps ensure that students start school with books in hand. In addition, since the University pays for the course books of the 60 percent of students who are on financial aid, the discount results in savings for the University as well.

Eisgruber added that the collaboration bolsters town-gown ties.

“We want to continue this relationship with an outstanding curative bookstore in town,” Eisgruber added. “We aren’t indifferent to Labyrinth’s success.”

One student raised a question about Pequod course packets, which she said prove nearly as expensive as textbooks year to year.

The University, Eisgruber said, would be open to reducing that cost but he imagines the best solution will come when students are willing to read e-Reserves in an online format.

The USG has an initiative in the works to reduce the costs of Pequod course packets, U-Councilor Elektra Alivisatos ’14 said.