A month into the Spring 2012 semester, English teacher Julie Roemer complains of mismanaged book orders. “I ordered 70 books in October and three weeks in my books weren’t stocked. Students went down to the bookstore and were told that their teacher had not placed the order,” she said.

Criminal justice major Jose Giorgo, 19-years old and a student of Roemer, said, “I am falling behind my courses. I’ve inconvenienced my friend to keep me up on the material and help me order the book online.”

Campus Books employee Angela Hill points to the competitive pricing of Amazon and eBay as reason for not stocking enough textbooks. “One other buyer and I take an extensive look into the history of the classes’ last three semesters to decide upon the merits of stocking textbooks.”

“It’s a dual problem. Books not arriving, books not enough of them,” says English professor David Vela. The stalls in ordering textbooks has not only effected his students’ work, but even his own.

“Quite honestly I’ve never been so disheartened with trying to get my students current and be able to walk with them,” Vela says. “You know, we walk together in my class, we learn together, and I can’t do it without my textbooks…”

Pressured by the risk of inflated stock, Hill hopes they can find a solution in a market that continues to evolve, and points to an emerging interest in textbook rentals “We have seen textbooks rentals go up from 500 last Semester to 3,000 this Semester.”