Mayhem shoots through the air around the local bookstores as students race to purchase textbooks.

“Wait for the first two days of class,” said junior accounting major Kathy Sharp. “Professors occasionally don’t use the books or you buy for the wrong sections.”

Wrong sections can throw off many students. To avoid mistakes be sure to have your schedule handy and highlight the sections.

Both stores offer full refunds or store credit on all books returned by Sept. 14. Be sure to bring the receipt and a photo I.D. if a check or credit card was used.

“Please don’t try and bring VCB books back to the University Bookstore,” said Gini Martin, a senior political science major.

Those with financial aid can charge their textbooks with their NIU OneCard.

Both stores produce their own university textbooks and sell textbooks to each other.

“The biggest thing that we at the VCB want and the university wants is for the students to get their books when they need them,” said Lee Blankenship, VCB owner.

“We have hundreds of people working to help you find the books and get you to the register,” Blankenship said. “With freshmen we know it’s a trying time, and we just try to make it an easy process.”

To help in the process, both bookstores have extended hours for this week. They recommend to come in either early in the morning or late at night to avoid congestion.

Prices rarely differ between stores and an abundant quantity of popular books can be found. The differences can be found in new and used textbooks. Used textbooks drop from 15 to 20 percent in price, which adds up to big savings for the students. Used books will go first, so it’s worth the time to search the stores for used copies, but be sure to skim the book first. Some used books were owned by people who love highlighters and left little text unmarked.

“We hope that the first time we order we get more than enough,” said Blankenship, who plans in February for book sales.

Don’t think that the University Bookstore and VCB are the only places to buy books. Some students will have to find textbooks at the Junction Bookstore or buy teacher booklets at the Copy Service.

Nancy Baker, a manager at Copy Service, said they carry booklets on teacher notes, overheads and sample tests.

“Teachers bring in personalized packets for us to make into booklets, and we charge for the amount of pages and the cost to assemble it,” Baker said.

The average price of the packets is between $3 and $25.

The Junction Bookstore offers a small selection of 12 different course textbooks.

“Our primary business is retail books, but we do carry specific textbooks at the request of the teachers,” said employee Mary McGinn.

Generally speaking, if a teacher requests that we hold a specific textbook, that teacher will not request that it be held at the University Bookstore or VCB. Both stores accept credit cards, checks and cash but not NIU OneCards.

Teachers that hold booklets and textbooks at these two locations inform students about them during the first week of school. Both the Copy Service and Junction Bookstore are on Lincoln

Highway while University Bookstore and VCB are on Lucinda Avenue.

Students can flex their bargain shopping muscles by searching online for their textbooks. Collegebooks.com offers a wide selection of books. The deals are few and far between as most

books sell for new. You also must know the title of the book you are requesting. Typing in a class title will not turn up anything useful.

Half.com delivers a barrage of deals on books. Few textbooks will run more than $20 on this site. However, books are outdated or can be badly damaged. Purchasing online also incurs a shipping and handling charge that will run about $3 a book. The book search goes by author, title or ISBN number.

The ISBN number is on the back of all textbooks and can pull up the year, edition, author and title. As a back-to-school promotion, half.com is taking $5 and $10 off purchases by typing in BeerMoney22 in the coupon code at the checkout.

The VCB and University Bookstore also allow you to purchase books online. Go to vcbs.com or search the university’s Web site at niubookstore.niu.edu for your book. Place the order with

them and they will pull the books off the shelf and put them on hold.