Fox thanked Prof. Fredman on behalf of the Council, and then introduced James O Connor, the Director of the Hammes Bookstore and invited him to report to the Council on the Bookstore . Mr. O Connor sketched the recent history of the Bookstore. Mr. O Connor reported on efforts to position the Bookstore as a valuable resource to the University community, including holding book signings, re-organizing stacks to mitigate what he called unfortunate adjacencies, and putting in place a plan to have a complete collection of books by faculty. Not only are tourists and football weekenders spending time and money in the Bookstore, but they are spending both time and money in the more academic areas. Within 2 weeks, the Bookstore is expected to meet its sales goals for its first year achieved in just over 8 months.
Students seem to be taking advantage of the friendliness of the Bookstore.
They play the piano, they take advantage of the late hours, they patronise the cafe, and they buy books. In response to questions from Council members, Mr. O Connor agreed to investigate the current lack of works by writers like Dante, Goethe, Cervantes, and Tolstoy in their original languages. While the Bookstore staff appreciates every effort by the faculty to keep the Bookstore current, all concerned also appreciate the faculty s wish that the Bookstore would also keep the faculty current. And within a year, the Bookstore expects to have the capacity for on-line purchasing. In addition, Mr. O Connor welcomed the suggestion that fewer used books be offered for sale for Arts and Letters courses.