Bookstore Mission
The University of Southern Indiana Bookstore is owned and operated by the University for the convenience of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and campus visitors. An educational agency of the institution, its primary purpose is to provide faculty and students with textbooks and supplies necessary for their academic pursuits. In addition, the bookstore provides supplies for use in campus offices and retail items that students, employees, and visitors need to have readily available or can find only in a campus store.
The USI Bookstore is a meeting place of, and an adjunct to, both the academic and social life of the University. It is an academically oriented resource, where the need for and interest in reading and study engendered in the classroom can be nurtured and reinforced. It is also a social focal point on the campus offering many goods and services required by a complex college community.
The USI Bookstore is operated on sound business principles in the anticipation that its income will cover both its operating expenses and its attributable capital development costs. While it is not the purpose of the bookstore to make a nominal profit at the expense of students, faculty, or departments, the bookstore is expected to be self-supporting (to produce sufficient income from its operations to cover all its costs and expenses).
I. GENERAL MERCHANDISING POLICY
The merchandising policy of the University of Southern Indiana Bookstore will reflect the needs of the campus, and the bookstore will make available such goods as are required to fulfill these needs. The responsibility for determining sources, quality, price, and supply of goods for sale in the bookstore will rest with the Manager. The bookstore will maintain liaison with the faculty and the administration of the University and with its customers in order to determine and/or refine the types of merchandise sold, thus keeping the merchandising activity of the bookstore in step with the changing needs of the University. The pricing of merchandise will be consistent with established practices in college bookstores and comparative with the prices in the general marketplace.
The selection and change of vendors/suppliers will be the sole responsibility of the bookstore. The bookstore will search the markets to obtain the maximum value and acceptable quality. The selling operation of the bookstore will generally be according to the principles of a self-service operation. The majority of merchandise lines will, therefore, be selected with a view to their being appropriate for self-selection by customers.
II. GENERAL PERSONNEL POLICY
The University of Southern Indiana Bookstore will maintain a staff of sufficient size and competence to conduct the business of the bookstore efficiently in accordance with the stated policies. The bookstore staff will be employees of the University of Southern Indiana and will be employed under the terms and conditions in force for university employees. The bookstore Manager will maintain a program of staff development, with the object of increasing staff participation and encouraging pride and self-fulfillment in the individual. The bookstore Manager will take all possible measures to protect, maintain, and develop the safety and working conditions of the bookstore staff. The bookstore staff will at all times conduct themselves in such manner, consideration, and ethics as to enhance the public image and integrity both of the bookstore and of the University.
III. GENERAL SYSTEMS POLICY
The University of Southern Indiana Bookstore will develop and maintain systems adequate for the tracking, recording, measurement, and control of the business in order to maximize the efficiency and security of the operation. The accounting system will account for all monies and merchandise coming into the bookstore, held in the bookstore, and leaving the bookstore. The accounting system will ensure the accurate and responsible tracking, recording, and controlling of all bookstore funds, inventories, properties, and other assets and the recording of the discharge of financial obligations. All accounting records and documents will be retained securely and in accordance with legal requirements. Certification of invoices for payment upon proof of receipt of goods/services shall be the responsibility of the Manager. The bookstore will utilize the retail system of inventory valuation to aid in inventory control.
IV. SERVICES OF THE BOOKSTORE
The University of Southern Indiana Bookstore provides several services to the University. The bookstore has extended hours during the first week of the term opening. The bookstore also provides:
- Shopping Baskets
- Check Cashing
- Services for the Handicapped
- Online Internet Orders
- Access to a Copy/Fax Machine
- Extra Check-Outs
- Extra Employees
- Special Orders and Phone Orders
- UPS Services
The bookstore provides a year-long book buy-back. The bookstore, jointly with wholesale book companies, buys books from students at a wholesale rate. At the end of each term, the bookstore buys books back from students at a rate higher than a wholesaler would, provided the textbook has been adopted for the following term. By completing THE INTRA-DEPARTMENT TEXTBOOK OR SUPPLIES REQUISITION on or before the date requested by the Division Secretary, the faculty can help the bookstore not only purchase books from students, but also to shop other sources for USED books prior to ordering from the publisher. This helps to reduce the cost of textbooks to the students.
Another service the bookstore provides, uncommon to many bookstores across the country, is to give a refund to a student up to the day before finals begin, provided the student has dropped the class and presents his/her drop slip and receipt.
The bookstore also participates, with the help of the students, in a project called the Bridge of Knowledge, a concerted effort by colleges and universities everywhere to help promote education in developing countries such as Romania, South Africa, Cambodia, and the Philippines. This project is part of a nationwide effort to provide out-of-print books, old editions, and books that are donated to third-world countries into the hands of students and teachers in every corner of the world who have no books.
V. FUTURE GOALS/NEEDS
The bookstore is presently working with the Space Committee in determining interested parties’ needs in the former Rice Library. Several groups are requesting space where space will be limited to all interested parties. In an effort to continually grow and provide quality customer service along with quality products, the bookstore is requesting to obtain sufficient space to meet these needs. The bookstore will need to expand to accommodate the growing institution and student population for the coming years.