For Immediate Release

Date:  August 16, 2006

BLOOMSBURG—The University Store at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania is offering two new options to make it more convenient for BU’s 8,000 students to purchase textbooks.

According to Beth Christian, manager of the University Store, all students may now order their textbooks online, using the department course section numbers on their academic schedules. University Store personnel will pack the orders and either ship them to the student’s home address or have them ready to be picked up in the store. 

Christian said the University Store has provided the service for freshmen for several years and is expanding it to upperclassmen this fall as a convenience for students. Each order and a $5 service fee will be charged to a credit card when the box is packed, she added.

A second innovation at BU this fall is the arrival of digital textbooks. Christian said that 27 titles, in areas as diverse as algebra, philosophy and oceanography, are available in electronic versions and as new and used textbooks.

To obtain the digital materials, students purchase an access code at a cost comparable to the price of a used textbook, about 33 percent less than a new book, she said. The digital textbooks are designed to be downloaded and read at the computer, rather than printed, and include features for highlighting, underlining and adding notes. Generally, the materials can be accessed from only one computer, she added.

Christian said more than 150 colleges nationwide are offering digital textbooks this fall, up from 10 included in a pilot program last year sponsored by MBS Textbook Exchange. Institutions in the pilot program included Princeton, West Virginia and Louisiana State universities. 

For information, contact the University Store at (570) 389-4176 or www.bloomu.edu/store.

Bloomsburg University is one of 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The university serves approximately 8,000 students and offers 58 bachelor’s, 16 master’s and one doctoral degree.

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