This article is cowritten by Amy Shumaker and Jordan Burch.
On Milligan College’s campus, there is one place to buy all of your game day swag, textbooks and even your favorite coffee mug for late-night library study sessions. The Milligan Bookstore is the staple of many student needs and is the one-stop-shop for incoming students.
Like the rest of the campus, though, the bookstore has been closed in light of the pandemic. This has caused worry among seniors looking to purchase regalia and those anticipating the yearly book buyback. Despite the uncertainty, there is good news in the midst of the campus closure. The Milligan Bookstore manager Jack Presnell had some reassurance to offer on the status of orders and textbooks.
On April 30th, the bookstore announced that the book buyback would still occur. The Milligan Bookstore partnered with the Nebraska Book Company, a trusted retailer of used textbooks. Students can search for books by SSN, and receive a quote and paid shipping on their textbooks. NBC will send back a check for their textbooks.
For those looking for next year’s textbooks, Presnell guaranteed that there would be used textbooks on the shelves in time for next semester. “At this point, we expect a very minimal impact on used book availability. We purchase the majority of our used textbooks from book wholesale companies like NBC and MBS, and they have let us know that they are well stocked and ready to go.” New textbook orders are also not affected by the coronavirus, and publishers have continued to fill Milligan’s orders.
Graduation regalia has arrived at the bookstore in time for the newly rescheduled August graduation. The bookstore is working to fill orders Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.-12 p.m. Students can order their regalia on the website’s online portal, and receive free shipping with the code FREESHIP20.
Online orders, as well as regalia, can also be picked up in-store when the bookstore opens. Presnell commented on the opening, “We are still working through the best plan for reopening the bookstore but intend at this point to be back open by June 1 if not earlier.”
The student union building, or the SUB, which houses the bookstore, was scheduled to undergo renovations over the summer. According to Brent Nipper, director of property and risk management, “the coronavirus situation has caused a slight delay in beginning the project.” Collaboration between Nipper, the architect, and the general contractor has been limited by the virus.
Despite the problems arising under the current conditions, Milligan is hoping to move forward with the renovation. “The current plan is to begin work on the project soon, issues such as the availability of labor, subcontractors and materials, government guidelines for returning to work and other factors may lead to the project being postponed, rescheduled or reduced in scope,” said Nipper.
The original goal was to have the project completed as quickly as possible. “The hope of the administration and the donor who provided the funds for the project is to have a significant, meaningful improvement to the building by the start of the fall semester if at all possible,” said Nipper. The summer was selected as the prime time to get the project underway.
These plans will include remodeling the bookstore. The updates will include some modernization and improvement to the sales floor and point of sale areas, as well as changes to storage areas. The improvements will be put in place as a complement to the rest of the renovations, and it will allow for improved customer experience.