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Online Textbooks Adoptions
Frequently Asked Questions
Contact Information

Online Textbook Adoptions

How to order course text and materials online:
Click here to open the Barnes & Noble (B&N) web page. The page will open in a separate window. Resize each window if necessary to have these two pages side by side.

Select “Faculty Services” from the menu bar in the center of the page.

Select “Online Textbook Adoptions” and follow the order prompts
- Once you have gone through the order process, your name and school information will be held in the B&N system. This information will then reappear each subsequent time you enter the site, requiring you to only enter this information once.

Online orders will be sent directly to the Winona Campus bookstore for processing.

An email confirmation will be sent to the email address you provided during the ordering process. This confirmation can be printed out and kept for your records.

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Bookstore Frequently Asked Questions - or,
All You Ever Wanted to Know About the Bookstore,
But Were Too Busy to Ask

• Why do you need my textbook orders so early?
  
• What is a “continuation course?”
  
• What is buyback all about, and why should I think about it?
  
• Why can’t I use a book that’s an older edition or out of print?
  Surely there must be enough used copies floating around!
  
• When and why do unsold books go back to the publishers?
  
• What is the deal with publisher packages?

Why do you need my textbook orders so early?

When you place a textbook order, there is a lot of “behind the scenes” action before that book can show up on our shelves. We hand-enter each textbook (about 625 titles per term) into our computer system, making sure that your course number, section letter, and enrollment figures you provided match the information we have from the registrar. We research each title with the publishers to make sure that the book is available in the edition that you are expecting. (And call you if it isn’t.) We look at the history of your course—how many students usually take it, and how many of them usually buy the book. We use these factors in making a decision about how many books to buy—we always want to have enough books for everyone who wants one, without having stacks of books to return to the publisher. We also want to buy as many books back from the students as possible during our end of term buyback.

We then begin to place book orders, beginning with other Barnes and Noble College Stores. Through a B&N system called Textnet, we are able to tap into other stores’ excess inventory, saving money for the students. The next step is to order from our wholesaler, again looking for used books to save the students money. Once we have ordered all the books we can from those two sources, we place the remaining orders directly with the publishers. Ten days to two weeks later, the books arrive from the publishers. We then need to unpack the books, price them, and finally deliver them to the right spot on the shelves. By allowing as much time as possible for this whole process, we hope to eliminate as many problems and last-minute panics as we can!

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What is a “continuation course?”

On your order form, we ask, "Is this a continuation course?"
A continuation course is a course that is spread over more than one term with the same group of students.
For bookstore purposes, a continuation course is one in which the majority of students will already have the book—e.g., the Chemistry 2 students will reuse the texts they used in Chemistry 1, so we would only need to order a couple of copies of the book to cover transfer students, etc.

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What is buyback all about, and why should I think about it?

The last week of every term, the bookstore buys back used textbooks from your students. The amount of money students receive back is directly dependent on your book orders for the upcoming term. If we have an order for a particular textbook, the student will receive half of what he or she paid for the book. If we don’t have that order, the student will be paid whatever the nationwide market is offering for a particular text, which is usually considerably less than half. Even if you’re not reusing a text, someone else might be—and having that order will enable us to give the students the highest prices possible for their books. Buying books back from our own students is also the least expensive way to acquire books for the next term. The more profit the bookstore shows, the more money goes directly back to Saint Mary’s University.

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Why can’t I use a book that’s an older edition or out of print? Surely there must be enough used copies floating around!

We at the bookstore are as frustrated as you are by the frequency with which publishers are coming out with new editions of textbooks! But if a book is an old edition or out of print (“OE/OP”), we simply can’t get it. We may be able to track down a few used copies here and there, but we cannot guarantee that we will be able to find enough copies to meet your needs. Our mission at the bookstore includes providing a textbook for every student who wants one—and with old or out of print books, we can’t make that promise. OE/OP books have no value to the students at buyback time, nor can the bookstore return extras to the publishers.

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When and why do unsold books go back to the publishers?

Around mid-term, the bookstore begins the returns process. We’ve discovered that if a student hasn’t purchased a book by the middle of the term, he or she is unlikely to purchase it at all. Publishers often have restrictive policies on when they will accept returns, and by beginning the process at midterm, we can meet those deadlines, while still providing service to you and to your students. Of course, if you know of a reason that we should keep your books, simply let us know, and we will be happy to oblige. Please note, though, that while we can hold fall books over for spring term, due to our inventory process and fiscal year end, we cannot hold on to spring books for the next fall’s classes.

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What is the deal with publisher textbook packages?

This is another area in which the bookstore shares your frustration! Publishers are becoming more aggressive about marketing textbooks with CDs, Power Web cards, workbooks, and other “free” extras. (Anything beyond the textbook itself is considered a “package.”) If the extra material is something you’ll use in your class, these packages can be an easier way to get the necessary tools into the students’ hands. If, however, you don’t plan to use these extras, it can be frustrating for the students to have to buy them. Publisher packages are often non-returnable, or have extremely punitive return policies, which increases the price for the students. Packages also make buyback more difficult—publishers will often assign a unique ISBN to the package—once the materials are opened, that ISBN is no longer used, and we are forced to buy back the components on an individual basis. If a package is something you will use, we are glad to get them for you. If, however, you are satisfied with just the textbook, let us know that, and we’ll do everything we can to purchase it that way.

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Contact Information

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Brought to you by the friendly working group on Bookstore-Faculty relations.