Bookstore to end textbook sales
The Dartmouth Bookstore announced it may stop selling textbooks entirely by Summer term due to the College's decision to continue allowing departments to decide when to give book lists to bookstores, as well as a declining textbook business. Bookstore Manager Dave Cioffi sent letters Monday to students who are store members announcing that in the winter, the bookstore will greatly decrease the number of textbooks it carries for each course, by 40 to 60 percent. By the end of Spring term or the beginning of Summer term, the bookstore will stop ordering books for Dartmouth classes entirely, Cioffi said. The Dartmouth Bookstore has traditionally had a close relationship with the College and has been selling textbooks since its founding in 1872. Wheelock Books Manager Whit Spaulding '89 said in an email that he is "capable of meeting the needs of the entire campus if it were necessary." Cioffi cited a number of factors for the decision, among them low profit margins, a recent proliferation of alternate textbook sources, an increase in transportation costs, the size of the space needed to sell textbooks and a high rate of books that are never bought by the end of a term and need to be returned. The factor that appeared to annoy Cioffi most, however, was Dartmouth's decision to continue to allow departments and faculty to decide whether to release the lists of course books.