Over a month into the academic year, some students remained unable to access required course materials from the UBC Bookstore.
In a statement to The Ubyssey, UBC Bookstore Manager Shane Gopaulsingh said bookstore staff contact instructors to determine if more books need to be ordered when course materials sell out faster than expected.
However, Dr. Gregory Mackie, an associate professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at UBC, said this was not his experience. Mackie said he doesn't receive notice of absent bookstore materials, rather he learns about it from students.
Srijaa Chatterjee, a fourth-year Honours English Literature student, agreed that the UBC Bookstore doesn’t contact professors about missing materials. Chatterjee is currently a student in ENGL 342 where, as of five weeks into the semester, she was one of only two students in the class with a copy of the required textbook.
“I don't think they know about these shortages, because the professor was pretty surprised that none of us had books,” she said, noting that the required textbook had not yet come into stock at the bookstore at the time.
“As far as I know, the professor has said that they keep emailing [UBC Bookstore], but there is no concrete response that they receive.”
This shortage resulted in Chatterjee taking on extra work as one of the only students in the class with the textbook.
“We have to scan a chapter every single week and send it out to the rest of the class,” she said. “It's an increased workload for those who have the book and it's also worse for those who don't.”
Veronica Gould, a third-year Honours English Language and Literature student said she got the impression professors don’t know if students don’t have access to materials until they ask the class or get told by their students.
Gould also said UBC Bookstore had sent one of her professors confirmation that her class textbook had been ordered. In reality, the required book had gone out of print entirely and Gould said the class didn’t find this out until well into the semester.
“I often now … distrust the bookstore on principle and I have to sort of ready myself to be looking online and … buy the book at a moment’s notice if it doesn’t come into the bookstore,” said Gould.
Jessica Yeung, a third-year Honours English Language and Literature student, called these shortages inconvenient.
“We only have four-month terms, right? So it's like, if we get [the books] in October, you're really missing a whole quarter of the stuff you could have been learning,” she said.
According to Mackie, these book shortages aren’t unique to this year, either.
“I've been at UBC for 18 years now, and this happens every single year,” Mackie said.
Gould also said last year she had a textbook that didn’t come in until a month into one of her courses — a situation which she said is quite common.
Gopaulsingh said the reason for this pattern ultimately comes down to money.
“The Bookstore tries to avoid ordering more books than necessary as books that do not sell often cannot be returned to the publisher, hence driving up operating costs,” Gopaulsingh wrote.
Mackie said UBC Bookstore’s greatest goal as a commercial enterprise is to make a profit, and he emphasized the importance of understanding the power dynamics involved in this operation.
“Students are often the victims here because they're responsible for their course materials,” he said. “Relying too heavily on the bookstore might not be a winning proposition.”
Srijaa Chatterjee has previously contributed to The Ubyssey. She was not involved in the pitching, writing or editing of this piece.
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