Bookstore helped by selling SF State books
By Kwame Opoku-DukuThe Guardsman
Some San Francisco State University professors are supporting local book sellers, like Modern Times Bookstore, by ordering their course texts instead of using the campus bookstore.Modern Times, which is run by a cooperative, is desperately seeking funds to help keep its doors open.“We’ve been taking orders for textbooks here for a few years now,” Kermit Playfoot, a co-op member of Modern Times, said. “Some of the schools that do it don’t have bookstores, but we appreciate when anyone decides to do it.”This is not the first time the bookstore has found itself partnering with an outside source. With the growing amount of Internet book sales, which are often less expensive, Modern Times has had to come up with ways to remain a sustainable business. In 2005, the bookstore teamed up with New College of California, then a Valencia Street neighbor. As a part of their collaboration, Modern Times was able to gain extra technical support, while New College was able to utilize the back office space as a classroom. There was also a joint-advertising agreement between the institutions. New College ordered textbooks from Modern Times because it did not have its own bookstore. The SFSU bookstore, however, is in a different situation. Its bookstore - a non-profit with sales that go directly to the university - is a member of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association. “I’m glad they’re supporting Modern Times,” Executive Director of the NCIBA Hut Landon said. “But supporting their own bookstore is also supporting independent booksellers.” Wendy Johnson, textbook manager at the SFSU bookstore, has also expressed concern. She explained that often times students go to the campus bookstore looking for textbooks that were ordered not through them, but through another bookstore. “Just like City College, most of our students are commuters, and I know it can be challenging when, teachers are sending students to Ocean Avenue or Taraval Street or elsewhere when some of them are freshmen and don’t know how to get there,” she said. “They come to us expecting us to have the books, and we don’t have them.” Johnson said that professors can order textbooks from any where they choose. While neither Landon or Johnson denied the financial crisis facing Modern Times or any independent bookstores, Landon hopes the parties involved will come up with a solution that works for everyone. “We’d like for the professors to explain to the students why to buy books from independent stores, in general, as opposed to Amazon,” Landon said. For Modern Times, the luxury of looking into the future is gone. “In these tough economic times, every bit helps,” Playfoot said. “And we’ll be happy to order books for anyone who needs them.”
