The Occidental College Bookstore implemented significant changes this fall, including a new partnership with Barnes & Noble College and the introduction of a new course material rental program, Oswald’s Essentials, according to Erik Russell, the assistant vice president of hospitality and auxiliary services.
Russell said Occidental brought in Barnes & Noble College to upgrade the old systems being used in the bookstore. These changes include more efficient servicing of online sales and course materials for both students and faculty, according to Russell. While Occidental still owns the bookstore and the building, Barnes & Noble College operates the inside of the bookstore, Russell said.
“The bookstore is an underperforming cost center,” Russell said. “What Barnes and Noble brings to the table in terms of the operations is the tools, the systems and the efficiencies that we simply didn’t have.”
Bookstore Manager Donna Huebner said the partnership with Barnes & Noble College allows the bookstore to have access to a wider range of book selections because they have the buying power to negotiate with publishers who would previously not work with the bookstore.
“They’re able to go in and negotiate with some of these publishers to be able to get books in digital format,” Huebner said. “So in a lot of ways, for textbooks especially, it’s been better for us.”
Huebner said that student workers were given the opportunity to continue working through Barnes & Noble College, but that most decided to leave because they were no longer able to receive work study from working at the bookstore. Under Barnes & Noble College, a branch of the company which manages college and university campus bookstores, students do not have a set limit of hours they can work and are getting paid slightly more than Occidental student workers, Huebner said.
According to Huebner, this semester, students can charge textbooks to their student accounts until Oct. 31, whereas in prior semesters, college students could charge anything to their student accounts, but only for the first month of school. However, Bengal Bucks can still be used to purchase any item in the bookstore, Huebner said.
“The college has been wanting to make this change for a while,” Huebner said. “It’s only supposed to cover textbooks, and they were allowing too many things to be charged to the student account.”
Through the new partnership, Huebner said the bookstore has been able to expand its product inventory because Barnes & Noble College can buy items in bulk and distribute them across all partnering locations. This allows the bookstore to carry items it was previously unable to afford, Huebner said.
“I would just encourage people to come in and check out our product mix,” Huebner said. “I would love to see people come in and see what we now have.”
Russell said the debut of Oswald’s Essentials program, which has become available to students this semester, resulted from the college hiring a consultant around February 2023 to do a financial analysis of the bookstore’s operations. During this process, students, faculty and administration were surveyed in order to get their opinion and feedback about the bookstore, Russell said.
“There was a desire for change in ease of transaction in getting course materials from the faculty,” Russell said. “And students wanted better access to course materials and a simpler program.”
Huebner said Barnes & Noble College helped decide the Oswald’s Essentials base price of $25 per course unit by looking into how the bookstore previously provided course material. This price was also created by comparing Occidental’s profit from the bookstore to benchmark profits made by peer institutions with similar programs, Russell said.
“The pricing can change,” Huebner said. “So if more people participate, the price could fluctuate lower, and if fewer people participate, the price could fluctuate higher in future semesters.”
Ellie von Brachel* (sophomore) said she decided to stay opted-in to Oswald’s Essentials because the process seemed straightforward and that after she enrolled in the program, she was able to see which textbooks she needed.
“Last year I got a textbook that I didn’t end up needing,” Von Brachel said. “So knowing the cost of things makes you feel more prepared academically and financially.”
Russell said each student should make their own decision regarding staying opted-in to the program and opting out, since it is not the best fit for every student but will work for others.
“I would encourage students to make their own decisions and to do their own investigation to come into the bookstore and ask these questions,” Russell said.
*Ellie von Brachel works for The Occidental as a staff writer.
Contact Miriam Arenal at arenal@oxy.edu
