Early textbook adoption numbers for this semester were about the same as those for the fall semester even though Student Association members campaigned last semester to encourage faculty members to place their orders early.

If faculty members turn in orders early enough — called early textbook adoption — the University Bookstore can pay more for books it buys back at the end of the semester and can find more used books, leading to reduced costs at the beginning of the next semester.

If the faculty members do not use the book again or if they do not place an order in time, the bookstore buys back the books for used-book wholesalers and generally will pay about 20 percent of the new-book price, said Marc Sanders, manager of the Course Book Department at the Union Bookstore.

“There was no big rush of text adoption in a timely fashion in any means,” Sanders said.

The number of books the bookstore bought back was down 4.1 percent, or about $24,000, Sanders said. The bookstore paid students about $457,000 for their books in December, he said.

To boost awareness, the SA held table events, posted flyers, wrote with chalk on campus sidewalks and sent letters of reminder to professors and department chairs.

Sanders said the key to early textbook adoption is re-adoptions — books that are used one semester and are used again the next semester. In those cases, the bookstore is able to pay more money to students during buyback and sell the book used the next semester at a lower cost.

“Getting orders early still allows us time to search for used books,” Sanders said.

Sanders said the number of books bought back could be down because of other factors, including professors using new books, changes in the edition of the book or changes in who is teaching the course.

“But it didn’t affect the number of books we were able to buy back from students,” Sanders said.

Often faculty members know which books they are going to use, but they don’t place the orders with the bookstore, Sanders said.

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