Once again a new semester is upon us, when NIU students spend every free moment of the first few weeks, picking up and dropping classes and braving the lines of NIU’s bookstores.

However, when students get placed in the classes they request, there is no guarantee that textbooks for all the students will be available.

Problems occur when not enough textbooks are available for a class and students are stuck with the temporary dilemma of having nothing to read or work with until new shipments are received by the bookstores.

“It’s really frustrating,” said NIU senior Kevin McArdle. “It’s only the first week of classes and already I’m a week behind.”

There are many reasons for a lack of book availability. Often a certain book is no longer in print, and an unaware teacher will order it anyway. In this case, either the bookstore must try to acquire additional copies from other schools, or the teacher must order a different book.

Other causes of this problem include late orders by teachers, inaccurate student class lists and last-minute registration by the students.

McArdle added that teachers should order books based on maximum class enrollment and not the enrollment figure when books are ordered.

ichard Boardman, owner of Village Commons Bookstore, 901 Lucinda Ave., said, “We are here to sell books. The last thing we want to do is miss a sale and we try to accommodate the students the best we can.”

Boardman added the good services outweigh the bad and students’ complaints are based on a lack of background knowledge.

To reorder additional copies of a book can take anywhere from two days to two weeks, depending on the destination of the order.

“Sometimes we order from Chicago, sometimes New York,” Boardman said. He added that if their major sources fail to provide books, VCB orders books from other universities. “We always try to get used books, if possible, to make it easier on the students,” he said.

Neil Kepner, Holmes Student Center accountant and business manager said the student center bookstore “is generally in contact with the professors to determine how many copies of each book are needed. I feel we need better communication between the faculty and the store.”