Members of the Keene State College community got to see presentations put together by companies looking to take over control of the KSC bookstore.
This happened on Tuesday, March 21.
The two companies, Follett and Barnes & Noble College each had an hour to go over what they had to offer the students, faculty and staff of KSC.
The first of which was Follett, who set up shop in the Madison Square Longue. Next, Barnes and Noble College talked to an audience in the Mountain View Room The representatives from both camps went over programs they offer which help educators and students get the coursework materials they need or want to use easily and affordably. T
hey also discussed a reworked web presence for the store as well as merchandising.
Representatives from Barnes and Noble College gave their presentation in the Mountain View Room and talked about their vision for the KSC’s bookstore.
They also put a focus on the KSC brand as one of the most important aspects of the college’s bookstore as well as lowering the cost of course materials by implementing Open Educational resources, price-match and textbook rental programs.
KSC Chief Information Officer and Laura Seraichick has been involved in a committee to try to find a new company to take over the now independently run bookstore. She said that it is becoming more and more difficult for the bookstore to stay competitive as it is now. Seraichick said that both of the companies offered possible solutions to the concerns surrounding the needs of those who use it.
“I think they both addressed a lot of the things around affordability, access, good value for students [and] faculty, and systems and processes to help sort of make that easy and simple for all of them, and then I think they presented their side that has all the other merchandise piece of it,” Seraichick said.
Seraichick said that the committee will continue to evaluate the two candidates before making a recommendation to KSC Interim Vice President for Finance and Planning Dr. Daniel Petree.
She added that Petree will make the decision as to who will receive the contract which will last between 24 and 29 months. She said that the college will be looking for whichever company that takes over to assume operation by no later than July 1.
After the contract expires, Seraichick said that the college and university system will look to have one company operate all bookstores on all of its campuses.
Jacob Barrett can be contacted at jbarrett@kscequinox.com
