For most students, waiting in long lines to buy overpriced textbooks has become part of the Sacramento State experience. While many students were able to survive this semester’s lines and get out with what they needed, others weren’t so lucky.

Senior psychology major Russel Hamilton considers himself and his fellow psychology classmates to be just a few of the unlucky ones.

“Over half of our class doesn’t have books,” he said.

Hamilton said many of his classmates have struggled with their exams because of this. He said no one knows where the books are and his professor is losing patience.

Nicholas Ewing, chair of the biological sciences department, said there were many reasons why textbooks didn’t arrive on time for the fall 2007 semester.

Ewing said the most common reason textbook deliveries are late is because the publisher hasn’t finished working on his or her latest edition. He said late textbook orders can be troublesome for both professors and students.

Ewing said late orders sometimes occur because many classes are taught by part-time faculty members who are assigned classes after the deadline has passed. He said that due to lengthy recruitment processes, part-time faculty members are sometimes not assigned classes until “the last months or even weeks before school starts,” making it “difficult to have books shipped to the store on time.”

He also said part of the reason biology classes are sometimes added at the last minute is because of the department’s inability to provide enough classes to meet student demand.

If the department can show that student demand for a class is high enough, then it will receive more funding from the dean, he said. It is only with this additional funding that more sections can be added.

Though there were some late orders because of this,

Ewing said the bookstore and publishers were able to provide this semester’s course materials on time.

Shelly Olson, textbook manager of the bookstore, said sometimes books don’t arrive because they are “in the process of being printed or are on back order.” She said that 93 percent of this semester’s textbooks arrived on time and were available by the first day of class, if not earlier.

Olson said professors are not penalized for late orders because many have justifiable reasons for being late.

While late orders are stressful for everyone, they

can be extremely difficult for students with disabilities who need their textbooks converted into a format they can use.

Jackie R. Donath, chair of the humanities and religious studies department, said textbook orders have to be turned in early so students with disabilities have time to obtain them in an accessible format.

Services to Students with Disabilities is responsible for helping students with disabilities get their textbooks.

According to the SSWD website, the program “helps disabled students obtain or convert textbooks to a format they can use.”

The two major formats used by students with disabilities are Braille and electronic text combined with text-to-speech software.

According to the website, students should place orders for these texts at least three weeks before class starts in order for SSWD to get them on time.

Melissa J. Repa, co-director of SSWD, said that if the publisher cannot provide the textbook, then SSWD is required to make it itself. She said this can be very time consuming, as some textbooks take up to 12 weeks to be converted to Braille.

Jean-Pierre Bayard, director of Academic Technology and Creative Services, and professor of electrical and electronic engineering, said that if at least 70 to 80 percent of textbook orders for converted textbooks were placed on time, SSWD would be able to handle the rest, even if they are late.

Repa said students and faculty members are invited to a Technology Initiative Forum, which will be held on Oct. 22 at 9 a.m. in the University Union Ballroom. Timeliness of textbook orders is one of many issues set to be discussed.

Michael Spitler can be reached at [email protected].