A system introduced in the fall to keep a more secure record of textbook rentals and extend student discounts in the Schine Student Center bookstore has spread to auxiliary bookstores around campus.

Under the system, Syracuse University students are asked to swipe their SU ID card and provide additional information before making a purchase at SU Bookstore locations around campus.

The system has also expanded to all of the registers in Schine’s SU Bookstore, some of which did not have the system before this semester. Using the system was challenging because the registers were not programmed the same way in the fall, said Kathy Fonda, operations manager in the bookstore.

Fonda said the bookstore is not surveying what a student buys but is keeping a record of important purchases for the student’s benefit.

Even though students are asked for their SU ID, it is not required, and they can still make most purchases if they don’t have it on them, Fonda said. But students must present their SU ID to purchase computer hardware, software or textbooks because students can be exempt from the New York state sales tax on these items, she said.

Betsy English, the bookstore director, said the purpose of this policy is to make the purchasing process more efficient for students. Students need to provide additional contact information with a purchase only once, and then it is archived, English said.

Records are kept of certain student transactions, especially those involving textbooks, so the bookstore can attribute the purchase back to that particular student, English said. This limits confusion about whether or not books have been returned at the end of the semester, English said. Before the program was enacted, cashiers had to look up the information on MySlice and maintain manual records of purchases.

‘We rented thousands of textbooks and sold thousands of computers this year,’ English said. ‘And what we don’t want to have happen is have the student come in at a crunch time and have to go through a long process.’

Cassandra Johnson, a freshman information technology and management major, said she does not understand why students are asked to swipe their SU ID for every purchase, even candy.

‘Not everyone carries it with them,’ Johnson said. ‘Sometimes you only have your keys on you. Why is it essential they have that information? Do they really need to survey my purchases?’

Though there seemed to be a bit of student confusion at the beginning of the semester, Jason Keeler, a bookstore cashier and senior psychology major, said he has not noticed any complaints about the new policy. He said he noticed most students have begun to swipe it automatically.

Fonda, the bookstore’s operations manager, said students who had provided the additional information while making purchases for the fall semester did not have to wait in line as long when purchasing textbooks for the spring semester.

‘We did already notice shorter lines from the fall textbook-buying period to the spring textbook-buying period,’ she said, ‘because for most students, that information had already been gathered and didn’t need to be done again.’

egsawyer@syr.edu

 

 

 

Published on February 1, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Liz: egsawyer@syr.edu | @3sawyer