Students in the Takoma Park/Silver Spring campus may need to travel to the Rockville campus to purchase course materials and supplies since the TP/SS bookstore temporarily closed earlier this semester.
The bookstore will be operated by Slingshot after Montgomery College’s contract with the previous supplier, Follett, ended. The college switched to Slingshot to help lower prices, according to Sokol Mato, director of Auxiliary Services.
Because of this change, there will no longer be a physical bookstore on the TP/SS campus. Rockville will be the only campus with a full-service bookstore.
Karel “TK” Tabi, a student member of the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus Council, expressed concerns over the bookstore closure.
“Now you’re forced to go to Rockville, and not everybody has the accommodations to go to the Rockville campus just to get a book,” he said.
However, Mato said the TP/SS campus will still have a distribution hub in the former bookstore space. Students will be able to purchase course materials and other supplies online through Slingshot’s software and pick up their orders at the distribution hub.
Students and faculty on the campus council raised concerns about how this change in format may impact access to materials. They raised questions about potential delays in shipping, effects on students who use financial aid to purchase materials, and limited access to supplies needed on short notice, such as pens and paper.
Another student on the campus council, Marie-Thérèse Baderhakuguma, mentioned that this could make purchasing books more challenging for ESOL students.
“Now that [ESOL students] have to buy something online, it’s harder because they are not used to technology, they don’t speak English,” Baderhakuguma said, pulling from her personal experience. “Three years ago, I didn’t speak any English. I don’t think I would be able to buy a book online at that time if I didn’t have anyone to help me.”
Some of the elements of the distribution hub are still undecided, so it remains to be seen whether these concerns will be an issue. While there may be some kinks to work out, the college is hopeful that this change will benefit students and faculty, said Mato.
The campus council, earlier this semester, discussed what the former bookstore space should be used for. Many members of the council expressed a desire for the space to serve as some type of café or student lounge.
Two members in particular, Heather Bruce Satrom and Matthew Wilson, expressed that there was a noticeable lack of places for students to gather or get something to eat. They believe that using the bookstore space for this purpose would be beneficial for students.
“Physical spaces for students to hang out are really important,” Satrom said.
Tabi and Baderhakuguma agreed with this sentiment and expressed that they would like to have a student lounge on campus.
Mato said the college is still undecided on how the former bookstore space will be used. There will be feedback sessions to gather community input on this topic, but the timeline has yet to be determined.
