Auxiliary Services and Barnes & Noble College Booksellers
are pleased to announce Text Book Rentals will be available through our
Mercer Campus Bookstores beginning in August 2010!
This year Barnes & Noble College Booksellers became the first nationwide bookseller to offer a multi-channel textbook rental program. Launched at 25 campuses nationwide, the rental program allows students to save more than 50% over the cost of purchasing a new textbook with the added convenience of being able to rent books in the store or from the bookstore’s website.
As word of this innovative program spread, it generated a great deal of excitement on and off campus. This included extensive media coverage from various news outlets including: ABC, CBS, and Time Warner television, NPR radio, and the Associated Press. While we appreciated hearing reporters praise the program, the most important voices were those of the students who responded to the rental program with tremendous enthusiasm:
Barnes & Noble College has made the program easy for students, enabling them to rent their textbooks from the comfort of their dorm or home simply by logging into their campus bookstore’s e-commerce site. They can also rent from their campus Barnes & Noble bookstore. This innovative rental program gives students the added flexibility of paying for their rentals using any form of tender, including campus debit cards and student financial aid.
In just the first few weeks of the pilot program, students rented more than 15,000 books.
Ken Boyer, Director of Auxiliary Services said, “We are excited to be able to partner with Barnes & Noble to help reduce student expenses for textbooks and provide students with a high level of personalized customer service available from our campus bookstores at Mercer.”
“We’ve had a tremendous response from students and faculty to our rental program and as a result have continued to expand it to other colleges and universities across the country,” said Max Roberts, President of Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC. “What makes our program so unique is that we’ve made saving on textbooks even easier for students by providing them the option of ordering their rentals online and having them shipped or picked up at their campus bookstore.”
Rentals are just the newest addition to the list of options Barnes & Noble College is offering students, including digital, loose leaf, custom, new, used, and unbundled textbooks. “We’ve always been about providing our students with convenient, cost-saving textbook options. We think our rental program does just that and has the additional benefit of providing an online solution,” said Roberts.
Textbook rentals are increasingly becoming a popular option for students looking to reduce their educational expenses. Rented textbooks save students more than 50% of the cost of buying a new, printed textbook.
Barnes & Noble College Booksellers’
Textbook Rental Program Frequently Asked
Questions:
How do students rent their books?
Student can either visit the campus bookstore or visit the bookstore’s website to rent their books. Barnes & Noble was the first nationwide bookseller to provide this convenience to students.
How long is the rental period?
The rental period is for the duration of the term/semester. Books are due back 10 days after the last day of finals. As an added convenience to our students, books can be returned in person or mailed to the bookstore.
Can students highlight or write in their rented books?
Yes, students can highlight or mark the books just as they would if they purchased a book and planned to sell it back to the bookstore.
Can students on financial aid benefit from the rental program?
Yes. One of the most appealing elements of the rental program is that students can use any form of tender already accepted at the bookstore—this includes financial aid and The Bear Bucks Account. Note: For a security deposit, a valid credit card must be provided regardless of the tender used for the rental fee.
What if a student doesn’t return their books at the end of term?
As a courtesy to students, we send out email reminders near the end of term alerting students that their rental period is about to expire. Our hope is that these reminders will help students get their books back in time. In the event that a student fails to return a book, there will be replacement and processing fees.
How many titles are included in a rental program?
There is no fixed number of titles. We work with each of our rental schools to identify the best selection and quantity for their individual campus. Currently the program has over 2200 titles.
Do faculty members need to commit to using the textbook for multiple terms?
No. Because we are the on-campus bookseller, we have access to the historical use trends of each title adopted on campus. This, coupled with the information we have on the national market, a book’s edition status, and other factors allow us to select titles that work well in a rental program regardless of whether or not faculty commit to reusing a title. However, if faculty members or departments DO commit to using the same book for multiple terms, it can help to expand the rental title list.