Genesee Community College's Barnes and Noble Bookstore Offers Text Book Rentals

BATAVIA, NY (06/01/2010)(readMedia)-- Beginning in fall 2010, The Campus Shop, Genesee Community College's on-campus bookstore, will give students a new opportunity to aid their sometimes budget-focused, hectic lives by offering a new, multifaceted textbook rental program designed to deliver maximum savings and convenience.

This innovative textbook rental program will allow students to rent their textbooks for less than 50% of the cost of purchasing a new printed textbook. Plus, as an added convenience, students will be able to rent their books either in the store or from the store's website, www.geneseecc.bncollege.com.

This decision to offer a textbook rental program was a joint decision made by the College administration and Barnes & Noble College Booksellers.

"The College is taking on this initiative to help students afford the rising costs of textbooks," Kevin Hamilton, vice president of Finance and Operations at Genesee Community College said. "We understand that not all students can afford to buy new books during these times of economic uncertainty and we're pleased to be working with Barnes and Noble to address those concerns."

"We are committed to providing students with the widest range of content options and price points available," said Ann Fraley, Vice President at Barnes & Noble College Booksellers. "Whether students are interested in new books, used, digital, unbundled, or now rentals, they know they can find what they want at the Genesee Community College bookstore."

Other program features include:

• Students can pay the rental fees using any form of tender currently accepted by the bookstore – including student financial aid. (Note: For security purposes, a valid credit card must also be provided regardless of the tender used for the rental fee.)
• Students can highlight or mark the rented books just as they would if they purchased a book and planned to sell it back to the bookstore.
• Students can convert their rental to a purchase during the first two weeks of class.
• The rental period is for the duration of the term/semester. Books are due back at the bookstore no later than 10 days after the last day of finals. Students can return the books in person or mail them to the bookstore.
• Courtesy emails will go out as the end of the term/semester approaches reminding students to return their books. Books not returned (or returned in unusable condition) will be subject to replacement and processing fees.
• Approximately 25% of the textbooks assigned by Genesee's faculty will be eligible to be rented. Textbooks that have a consumable element such as an Internet access code or a study guide are not part of the textbook rental program.

Barnes & Noble began piloting their rental program earlier this year at 25 campus bookstores across the country. Response from students where the program was piloted was tremendous. In particular, students like having the option of getting their books immediately - as opposed to waiting for a shipment to arrive –and they appreciated knowing that the books they were renting were guaranteed to be the right books for the classes. More than 90% of the students surveyed said they would rent from their campus bookstore again.

For more information about Genesee Community College Bookstore visit: www.geneseecc.bncollege.com.

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 775 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 639 college bookstores serving nearly 4 million students and over 250,000 faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. For more information, please visit www.bncollege.com.

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