A Blackwell’s bookshop, which is located at Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) main campus, has decided to close its commercial property for good. However, the news has not gone down well with the students at the University, who have since launched a petition.
The company claims that the commercial property in Sheffield has been trading at a loss ever since it opened in 2005. According to the students, the University charges the bookshop chain £106,000 per annum in rent, which seems too high for the commercial property to make a profit.
Speaking of the Blackwell’s closure, Clive Macdonald, Director of Student Learning Services at SHU, stated: “It is regrettable that the Blackwell’s bookshop will close at the end of 2011, as it has been a valuable on-campus resource for our students in the last six years.”
The Blackwell’s store, not only offered books, but also stationary and software, which will be a great loss to the students of the university. Although, in recent years, buying of these types of products online has increased dramatically, if students need a particular book quickly and the library hasn’t got any copies left, they would prefer to buy the book from a store close by, rather than wait days for it to be delivered.
The students hope the petition will halt the plans to close the commercial property, as Nick Howard, one of the petition organisers expressed: “A bookshop is more than just another retail outlet, despite the moves to on-line purchasing and book publishing on electronic slates. The petition has been very well supported. A university without a bookshop offers lower standards of service to its students and teachers than those available at the better provided universities.”
However, Mr Macdonald believes the services at SHU are sufficient enough for the students needs: “Students at Sheffield Hallam are able to access a high quality range of books and other resources from the Adsetts Learning Centre and Collegiate Learning Centre. Both centres stock a wide range of learning materials that students need for their courses, and have received excellent feedback from students in a recent survey.”
But even if a student does manage to get hold of a book that they require from the University’s library service, they may not be able to keep it for very long, as a fellow student may reserve it. If that happens, the student would be required to return the book, or face fine, and then they will have to reserve the book themselves again and wait a further week for it to be returned.
However, it is not only the students that will lose out, as 11 people employed at the commercial property will be made redundant at the end of this year. To soften the blow to the staff members at the bookshop, the University is currently trying to find positions for the 11 employees within the University itself.
But if the university cannot find positions for some or all of the staff in question who are being made redundant, especially at this time of year and with record levels of unemployment, it couldn’t have come at a worse time of year.
