MBU News
Is Founders Floundering this Semester?
September 5, 2007
By Jessica Bledsoe
Frustrated students, parents, and professors are abundant at Missouri Baptist University. Why? Some books are still unavailable at the bookstore. Students are confused and concerned because they are bookless as they enter the third week of classes. What happened this semester to create such an atmosphere of disorganization and chaos?
To understand why the bookstore is in such disarray, students, professors, and parents need to understand the process of getting the books on the shelves. “It is not just going to Wal-Mart and picking out a book to put on the shelf. A lot more goes into it,” said Terry Woodring, manager of the Lewis and Clark Missouri Baptist University extension bookstore.
Within the third or fourth week of each semester, the bookstore will send the teachers a book requisition form. These forms allow the professors to choose which books they want to have for each of their classes. Ideally, the bookstore managers like to receive these requisitions back around mid-terms; however, they can receive them as late as book-buy-back time, near the end of the semester.
Once the textbook requisitions are returned, the bookstore manager can go to work, communicating with wholesalers and publishers. Woodring uses what he likes to call a “factual guess” in determining how many books to order. He uses rosters and selling history to determine how many books to order from the wholesalers, publishers, and the students. The number of books generated through book-buy-back will also affect how many books he will purchase from the wholesalers and publishers.
Ideally, the books would be on the bookshelves one to two weeks before classes start. However, if one small piece of the puzzle falls out of place, the whole process is scrambled, and the bookstore may have to start from scratch. “I would love to order 100 percent of the books for every student in every class,” Woodring said. “But as history shows, it’s just a fact that I won’t sell that many” because students turn to other venues for finding their books such as swapping books with each other and using websites such as Half.com and Amazon.com.
This year, the bookstore has gone through two managers in a matter of approximately four months. During this time of leadership transition, the bookstore was purchased by another parent company. Woodring said, “Founders is still Founders. Basically, what this means is that a new company will be footing the bills.” With this new purchase, comes new procedures and computer programs.
A district manager works alongside Founders Bookstore, but together Hannah Jones, current MBU student, and Terry Woodring keep the bookstore afloat. The parent company of Founders is currently looking for a permanent manager; however, once this person is selected, he/she must be approved by the university, which takes time.
The bookstore has three bosses: the student, Missouri Baptist University and the company who pays the bills. For a bookstore to run smoothly, communication is key. Professors need to work closely with the bookstore and vice versa. The students need to communicate with the bookstore about any concerns or questions they might have. The number one priority of the bookstore is the students. “We are not as evil as people perceive us to be,” Woodring said.
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