Buying Your Books, Part 2

So, you've got your booklist. You know what to look for, but how do you go about finding what you need?

Many enlist the help of a sales associate, but during the busy season when the aisles are flooded with customers from open to close, it can be difficult for us to assist everyone.

Then there are those who decide to wing it and find their materials themselves (for what it's worth, I've heard "you made finding my books so must faster!" quite frequently from customers who have tried going solo at first).

Whatever the case, if you find yourself looking for books on your own, how do you find your way around? Let's take a little tour.

BOOK AISLE VIEW UPON ENTERING STORE:



The books are arranged in a mostly-reverse-alphabetical order (more on that later). When you enter the store and head to the back, you'll find the A-books (starting with Accounting) at the far right end beside the customer service desk, ending with the W-books (Welding) near the far left corner.

Pretty simple, right? But you may still find yourself a bit confused. Two subjects encompass so much material that they are grouped together. The first one, Allied Health, covers Nursing, Physical Therapy Assisting, Dental Assisting, and others. With such a large group of similar material, they have all been grouped together along the far left wall. The other, Technical Education, covers Automotive, Graphic Design, Electronic Media, Culinary, and the like, and can be found running along the back wall of the store.

See? Not too terribly difficult to find your way around. And of course, even if you're flying solo in your book search, you can always try to enlist a sales associate's help in finding what you need if all else fails. Trust us, we got this book-finding stuff down to a science.

Next time on the Bookstore Blog, shelf tags.

We're Hiring!

Been reading the blog and thinking to yourself, "well golly gee, the OTC Bookstore sounds like a right nice place to work"? You'd be right, and you have an opportunity to see for yourself, because we're hiring!

The job link on the OTC jobs page gives some info, but let's go into a bit more detail.

First and foremost, it's important to note that this position is seasonal, and therefore, not likely to be permanent. As I'm sure you regular bookstore-goers are aware, the store isn't nearly as busy during the middle of the semester as it is during the beginning, end, and in-between.

This position will be available starting around the middle of July. During that time, we'll be beginning to prepare for our Textbook Reservation program. There's a great deal of work that goes into doing that, including bringing shelves from our garage into the TextRes room, building them, and pulling together thousands (yes, THOUSANDS) of orders, ringing them up, putting them in tote bags, and sending them to their respective campuses. Now you see the need for hiring more employees to help out!

Things get even more busy in August when people begin purchasing their textbooks for the Fall. If you've been to the bookstore to get your books during a high-traffic time period, you've likely been in one of the lines that snake around the entire bookstore. During that time, we usually have at least four employees helping customers find their books, one issuing SmartCards, three or four helping customers get their uniforms and other general merchandise, four cashiers, and many others working behind the scenes. And that's just for one shift!

Of course, the question comes up, "what happens when things begin to slow down?" And several weeks into the semester, after students have purchased all their books and returned what they've decided they don't need, traffic drops significantly. And unfortunately, that also means that we no longer have the workload necessary to accommodate so many employees.

At this point, several possibilities present themselves:

1. We thank you for your service and part ways.

2. We thank you for your service, part ways, and if you exceeded the management's expectations, they possibly call you back to employment around the beginning of the following semester when things get busy again.

3. We thank you for your service, and if you REALLY exceeded the management's expectations and we have a need, you get hired on to be a year-round employee (or as we're affectionately called, "full-time part-timers").

So, that's the gist of our hiring process in a nutshell. But I'm sure one more question still remains: "what's it REALLY like working at the OTC Bookstore?"

Frankly, I think it's pretty darn nice.

It's hard work, to be sure, but despite the fact that we're a college bookstore, we have fun together. And I'm not just saying that because my manager just slipped five dollars into my back pocket. Really, how often can you say you and your managers regularly have casual conversations about the combustibility of dolphins or whether another manager is secretly Batman in their spare time?

So, think you got what it takes to become a part of our wacky lil' bookstore family? Request a copy of your college transcript (it usually takes about a day from request time to get it), put together a cover letter and resume, and send 'em our way!

Buying Your Books, Part 1

Many customers feel intimidated at the thought of having to come to the bookstore and purchase textbooks. "Where do I start?" "How do I know what materials I need?" "How do I go about getting what I need?"
Fret not. It's not nearly as intimidating a process as you might think. Our plethora of highly-trained staff members are more than willing help you in your book-purchasing endeavors.

So, you make your way into the bookstore and don't have a clue what you need, huh? You could navigate the aisles in an attempt to find the books yourself, but why expend your time and energy when you don't have to? If you head to the Customer Service desk located to the right of the textbook area, we can print a copy of your booklist. Let's take a gander at an example:






As you can see, this student is taking two classes during the summer, PSY-110 and ENG-101. Below each course, you can see the materials needed, as well as the prices for new and used editions of the textbooks where applicable. Usually there are also thumbnail images of what the book looks like.

Of course, this is a relatively simple booklist. Occasionally, they can be a bit more complicated, such as if you're taking BCS-120:

This course requires not only two textbooks, but also safety glasses, latex gloves, and a disposable lab coat. Also note the "Recommended Material(s)" listing at the bottom. As the name implies, these are materials that are completely optional for the course, but can be helpful to students who would like some extra assistance.

As always, if you have any questions regarding your booklist, feel free to speak to a bookstore sales associate, or you can reference the handy dandy sign "HOW TO READ A BOOKLIST" located beside the Customer Service counter at the back of the store.