Despite the discussed changes in the Textbook Center’s textbook returning procedure, there will be no changes this semester.

“I was impressed and rocked by the strong negative reaction to the idea over discussion in the Student Senate meeting [April 28],” Richard Egley, dean of students, said.

Of the four schools in the UW System that have textbook rental, UW-Platteville is still the only one not using the self-serve system for returns, Mary Larson, Textbook Center manager, said. The others have already switched, and it resulted in faster lines for the students, and more than doubled the amount of books returned in a day.

“We want to speed the lines up for students,” Larson said. “It would be a quicker process, especially if they can bring books back as they finish.”

The proposed change would require students, after their books were accepted and scanned, to reshelf them appropriately, Joyce Loeffelholz, Textbook Center assistant manager, said. Students would have had the choice to pay for staff to reshelf their books at $3 per book. If any books were out of place, there would also be a $10 fee per book.

There would have been no penalty for students who misplaced one book, as long as it was near where it should be, Loeffelholz said.

Textbooks would be checked quickly for obvious damages, such as water and stains, Larson said. Then students would return them to the shelves, and as long as they were not dumped in a random location there would be no penalty to the student.

Larson said they are always looking to reduce the wait for returning books for students. The proposed change would have reduced the wait, largely due to the amount of time spent on checking the books.

“Every book has an identification number which gives us the history of the book, and we can track everything,” Loeffelholz said in regards to how they would be able to track down the owner of the misplaced books.

Eliminating extra employees to help with book return will help the Textbook Center cope with rising book prices and increased minimum wage. Money would thus be saved that would go towards buying new books, Larson said. There would have been some help around, but they would not have required numerous employees to reshelf everybody’s books.

Although the implementation has been postponed, Egley hopes to see it in effect next semester. The proposal will be worked on over summer, and sent to the assistant chancellor for student affairs and the chancellor to look over. If approved, it will be brought up to Student Senate in the fall.

For the end of the spring semester, no changes will occur in return, but it is still encouraged to not wait until the last minute and return all books at once, Larson said. The Textbook Center is open all semester, and she hopes students will start taking back books upon finishing with them.