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Weekly News Digest
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February 27, 2018 — In addition to this week's NewsBreaks article and the monthly NewsLink Spotlight, Information Today, Inc. (ITI) offers Weekly News Digests that feature recent product news and company announcements. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today.
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The Future of College Bookstores
In “Rethinking College Stores,” Publishers Weekly explores whether independent college bookstores can survive amid the shrinking textbook market and competition from companies such as Barnes & Noble Education and Follett. “IndiCo’s program, the Independent Campus Stores Collaborative, gives colleges and universities the option to allow IndiCo to manage their campus stores or provide custom services. When it was launched at last year’s Camex, there were roughly 2,000 indie stores.” The article continues:Over the past few years, [some] school stores have gone independent, but not all through IndiCo. ‘I’m not sure [the transition] is a complete success,’ said Jim Huang, director of the bookstore at Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pa. ‘There was a lot of skepticism [among faculty] about what we do that’s different’ when the college took over store management in spring 2015 from Follett. Huang said that books are the focus of the revamped store. Currently textbooks account for 40% of sales, with spiritwear and spirit gear another 40%, and 20% of sales generated from other items. … Yet even with those additions to the independent market, the number of independent campus stores continues to drop. Barnes & Noble Education added 700 virtual bookstores and a textbook wholesaling company with its acquisition of MBS last year. It now operates 777 physical bookstores and 706 virtual stores. Read the rest of the article here.
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Brandi Scardilli
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