VCU Bookstores Survey: A Qualitative Summary
Thanks to Valerie Robnolt and the Academic Support Services Committee
for overseeing our recent faculty survey about the VCU bookstores.
Thanks also to Tracy T. Ryan of the VCU School of Mass Communications
for her advice on our survey design.
--Dan Ream, VCU Faculty Senate President
VCU Bookstore Survey: Qualitative Summary
Question: Thank you for answering our questions. If there’s anything else you would like to tell us, please share it here.
• There were 94 people who responded to this question.
• 22 comments were positive.
• 69 comments were negative.
• 1 neutral comment.
• 3 comments were about the survey itself.
• There were 7 comments about textbook rental, of which 6 said that they didn’t think it was a good idea and one that said it was a good idea. These are people who didn’t have experience with textbook rental.
Question: What do you hear from your students about their experiences with the VCU Bookstore?
• There were 170 people who responded to this question.
• There were 11 comments that indicated their students were positive about their experiences with the bookstore.
• Most of the comments were negative:
o There were 53 comments regarding the books being too expensive.
o There were 87 comments regarding there not being enough books for classes and how long it takes for books to come in when they are ordered.
o Note that for the first two bullets, many respondents made comments about both issues.
o There were 11 comments about poor customer service.
o There were 7 comments about the VCU logo merchandise.
o There were 9 comments that didn’t fit into any of the above categories, but several people said that the MCV Bookstore didn’t have enough supplies for classes.
• There were 19 comments that were neutral.
• 5 comments were not applicable to the question.
Question: You said you had experience with textbook rental. What was your experience?
• There were 8 people who responded to this question.
• The comments were mixed about it being a positive and negative experience.