Georgia College & State University

Academic Affairs Handbook

4.01 BOOKSTORE GUIDELINES

Policy:  Board of Regents Policy Manual Section 3.10, http://www.usg.edu/policymanual/section3/

PawPrints Bookstore currently operates two locations: one at the lower level of Maxwell Student Union (offering general reading books, magazines, clothing, gifts, school supplies, convenience store items, and office supplies) and one at 115 South Wilkinson Street, less than half a block off the main campus (offering textbooks, school supplies, and a smaller selection of clothing and gifts).

 PawPrints Bookstore is institutionally-owned and operated with the purpose of providing the GC&SU community with necessary textbooks and supplies. The bookstore also supplies non-essential items such as magazines, trade books, clothing, and gifts. The bookstore operates in a self-sustaining manner, generating enough revenue to support current operations, to expand services, and to renew its facilities as needed. The bookstore accepts cash, checks, major credit cards, and CatCash (the Bobcat Card’s debit account) for all purchases.  The bookstore does not maintain charge accounts for individuals, although it does offer departmental charging for office supplies for University offices.   The bookstore is typically open Monday through Thursday 8am – 5:30pm and Friday 8am – 5pm.  It’s open for extended hours during registration and the first week of each semester.

310 ACADEMIC TEXTBOOKS

The Chancellor shall establish guidelines concerning the designation and sale of textbooks required for coursework at University System of Georgia institutions. Minimally, the guidelines shall include provisions that:

1. Promote increased communication between and among students, faculty, and college bookstores concerning the use of textbooks in the classroom, the designation of required versus recommended texts, textbook costs, textbook adoption schedules, alternative acquisition methods, and other factors affecting the designation and sale of textbooks in order to increase the options available to students in meeting their cost of education.
    
2. Ensure that bookstore operations, whether managed internally or outsourced to private vendors, offer the best value to students in acquiring textbooks and actively promote alternative options to help minimize student cost.
    
3. Require a third-party review process at the institution for determining if faculty may use self-authored texts in their classroom, and disallow faculty to resell sample texts provided by publishers or to take advantage of any financial incentives offered by publishers in the assignment of specific texts. (BR Minutes, May 2005).