USG works to decrease book costs

Campus and Community Affairs chair Cindy Hong ’09, who is also a columnist for The Daily Princetonian, said the USG would look to sponsor more events at Labyrinth, adding that she would like to see “Labyrinth ... become more of an institution” that would fill an intellectual niche in the University community.

Hong added that she met with Labyrinth co-owners Dorothea von Moltke and Cliff Simmons “to discuss what challenges they have and what challenges we have” in supplying University course books.

Labyrinth became the only major bookseller in Princeton upon its arrival on Nassau Street. The University restructured the U-Store by shutting down its book business and buying out the independently owned Micawber Books to make room for the new Princeton U-Store paraphernalia shop.

Hong noted that one issue facing students is the unavailability of course reading lists, which would tell students what books they need to buy for each class.

Labyrinth tries to collect reading lists, but one of the reasons it does not post them earlier is because doing so is not necessarily in the store’s interests, Hong said.

She added that book lists often are not finalized until classes begin but said she believes Labyrinth is willing to work with the USG to better provide lists for students.

The USG also cited the prohibitive cost of course books as a second major concern.

According to the recently released Committee on Background and Opportunity (COMBO) survey results, two-thirds of students from lower- and lower-middle-class families indicated that cost prevented them from purchasing required course materials. Roughly three-quarters of lower- and lower-middle-class students did not buy books, compared to 36 percent of upper-class students.

Class of 2011 senator George Tsivin said he believes Labyrinth could lower costs if more students relied on the store for their textbook needs.

“The reason they are expensive is because not enough people buy them,” he said, adding that he would be meeting with the storeowners to work on finding “creative solutions to get people to buy more books.”

Serving as the only University textbook provider in town creates “a lot of additional costs” for Labyrinth, Tsivin said. “They have to stock titles a normal bookstore wouldn’t stock.”

U-Councilor Jacob Candelaria ’09 suggested a different view of the issue, noting, “The real problem is not Labyrinth’s fault. The problem is textbooks are overpriced at the national level.”

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He said that the USG should focus on the greater problem. The University “should be adding its academic weight to saying 'this market is broken down,' ” he said.

Director of Undergraduate Financial Aid Robin Moscato was at the meeting to answer questions from USG members and comment on aspects of Princeton’s financial aid policy.

Moscato noted that the University currently has a textbook allowance as part of its financial aid package, which it expands by 5 percent each year.

In the discussion, Moscato stressed the important role that Princeton played in pioneering a no-loan financial aid policy, noting that many other universities have followed suit.

Labyrinth’s place

Hong said it is important for the USG to support Labyrinth because it is independent and “because of the culture it creates — and that’s something that we can’t put a price to, and we’ll have to see if students go for it.”

In an interview with the ‘Prince’ in February, von Moltke said Labyrinth aims to fill the cultural gap left by Micawber. “We’re really happy to be held to a high standard of bookselling and [be] in a town where it mattered that an independent bookstore closed,” she said.

Several professors interviewed for the February article stressed the importance of Labyrinth as a bookstore that stocks both academic and popular books for the community and not a mere repository for textbooks.

“A lot of people do perceive Labyrinth as a business, not as a neighborhood bookstore,” U-Councilor Liz Rosen ’10 said, adding that students would feel more connected to the store if employees and owners engaged students more.

Communications director Andrew Malcolm ’09, however, said that there is no need for the store to fill an intellectual niche in the community, contrary to Hong’s suggestion.

“What niche is not being fulfilled at Firestone?” he asked.

Civic Engagement liaison Reilly Kiernan ’10, who is also a senior writer for the ‘Prince,’ also cast doubt on the concept of Labyrinth as an intellectual center for the University.

“No one sees [the store] as trying to create a culture of intellectualism,” she said. “I don’t think that people on campus are looking for Labyrinth to fulfill that niche.”