The Student Newspaper of Highline College

Bookstore finds ways to get textbooks to students

Wiliam Hong Staff Reporter Nov 12, 2020

The bookstore has had to make some changes to its procedures to continue to help and provide for students during Fall Quarter.

The Highline bookstore provides students with their textbooks (new, used, or rentals) and other supplies including clothing, course supplies, electronic device rentals, gifts, and among other things.

The money that goes into the bookstore goes directly to Highline to pay for bookstore supplies, and to pay the bookstore staff. Any profit from the store goes back to the college.

The bookstore remained online going into Fall Quarter and might try to bring in students for Winter Quarter 2021.

“With the campus still closed for the fall term, we continue online only operations,” said Bookstore Manager Flint Thornton. “We are brainstorming ways to possibly bring people safely into the building for the Winter Quarter.”

To accommodate social distancing guidelines and to ensure the safety of its staff and customers, the bookstore has limited the amount of its student workers.

“We were restricted to just the full-time staff with no student workers,” said Thornton. “We were able to bring in about five workers to help a few hours a week,”

The number of students allowed to go inside the bookstore has been changed also, as Thornton says that there is no way to bring in multiple customers during this time.

“While we miss seeing everyone, our store is not a space that can accommodate more than five people at a time,” said Thornton. “Since five of us work here, we don’t see a way to bring people inside yet.”

In September, the bookstore decided to allow students to pick up their orders at the building entrance, using an appointment scheduling app to limit the number of people coming to its doors at the same time.

Bookstore staff expected only a few students to come for in-person service, but the result was the opposite.

“We were surprised to find that two thirds of students selected to pick up at the store, meaning we had over 1,500 students who wanted to come to campus,” said Thornton. “The appointment schedule filled up quickly and some students had to wait a few days to pick up their order.”

“We enjoyed seeing student’s faces again (actually, eyes above their masks), and we got some exercise walking to the doors all day with orders,” said Thornton. “We are looking at options to improve that process for the winter term.”

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