The University Bookstore: A Store for Students’ Benefit

Ljósmynd/Hólmfríður María Bjarnardóttir

Translation: Katrín le Roux Viðarsdóttir

The editor of The Student Paper met with Óttarr Proppé, manager of the University Bookstore, and spoke with him about the Advent season at the bookstore and the store’s role regarding students. The University Bookstore is on the second floor of the University Centre and doesn’t just stock any and every book imaginable, but also earplugs, scented candles, children’s toys, and mechanical pencils. Óttarr says while the store is first and foremost a bookstore, it also plays a role in serving the university community.

A more relaxed feeling on campus

“For us, it’s a part of the university’s atmosphere to take part in the lead-up to the holidays,” answers Óttarr when asked if the Advent season will be the same this year as the past few years. “We are and want to be connected to this atmosphere, but of course it’s quite different in these weeks when the stress of the holidays overtakes the nation and all the stores are open until midnight, and the campus is settling into finals season. With us, there will be less stress and a more relaxed feeling, and we try our best to keep it that way.” Óttarr says there are also plans to get authors to do book readings in the bookstore over the holidays, and The Student Paper urges students to keep up with the bookstore’s Facebook page so as not to miss any news.

Óttarr says December is a relaxed month for the bookstore, but after the holidays things get busier. “Our busiest time is after the holidays when new textbooks start coming in, but in December we’re in the holiday spirit. We’re busy reading and getting to know the holiday titles so we can chat with our customers about them. We don’t have Christmas music blaring. We would rather take part in the Advent season with students at their pace.” Óttarr makes sure to mention the University Bookstore’s coffee shop. “We just spruced it up this summer, so it’s really nice and cosy.”

The Christmas book flood in the bookstore

When asked about the so-called “Christmas book flood,” Óttarr says this year’s books are more variable than ever. “For example, there are short story collections and poetry books, two genres that had almost completely fallen out of fashion a few years ago. This year, there are also more titles that fall between genres, and it’s fun to see authors play with different mediums.” Óttarr says domestic works keep up with the international market. “We have a large selection of titles in English and keep an eye on what’s going on overseas. We meet regularly with publishers in the US and UK, where we notice that there are more and more titles that fall between genres.”

This year’s book flood is the biggest yet. “It’s nice to see this increase in new titles. You hear, for example, that there have never been as many novels and children’s books as there have been published this year,” says Óttarr. Needless to say, the bookstore has all of this year’s latest releases for sale on the second floor of the University Centre.

Not a profit-driven store

The University Bookstore is a subsidiary of Student Services (FS) and a not-for-profit organization: According to Óttarr, the store’s goal is to offer competitive prices for students, university staff, and anyone else, really. “Our policy is to price our books as low as possible. We’re a non-profit foundation, and our duty is to serve students and the university community. Of course, like anyone else, we have rent and salaries to pay, but we don’t have to turn a profit, so we can allow our prices to be lower than other bookstores.”

Óttarr says the bookstore takes better care of university students than other stores. “We’re focusing on different products than the big shops do during the holidays. They’re taking in bestsellers, while we’re more focused on our clientele, which is university students.” Óttarr says students often have alternative interests, and the bookstore tries to always stock books from the University Press (Háskólaútgáfan). “I’m happy to report that last November, when Arnaldur and other bestselling authors were releasing new titles, our top-selling book was Kristur by Sverrir Jakobsson.” A similar story may be told of this year’s Christmas book flood. According to Óttarr, Andri Snær Magnason’s latest, Um tímann og vatnið, is an absolute bestseller at the bookstore. “We respect our customers’ choices very much. We try to highlight unique material and will even make deals with publishers to get prices on those titles lowered.”

Photograph/Hólmfríður María Bjarnardóttir

A varied selection at the University Store.

When asked about the University Store (Kaupfélag stúdenta), Óttarr says it’s really an umbrella term over all the inventory that isn’t books. “We have a large stationery section that is connected to student’s work and services the offices on campus, but we also have a large selection of gift items and miscellaneous things. That’s where we’ve been trying to focus on fun and unique items that we often import ourselves. We’re importing a lot from the Netherlands, Germany, and England and looking for items that are high quality, eco-friendly, and even handmade.”

Besides the stationery section, the University Store doesn’t just offer gift items and other things, but also caters to students living on campus. “We have all kinds of items that we think are suited for students living on campus,” says Óttarr. “For instance, we sell a lot of wall hooks that the students on campus use for hanging up pictures. I also think we’re the biggest retailer for earplugs in Iceland. We sell thousands of them every finals season.” Óttarr says the bookstore tries to keep track of students’ needs, selling the likes of charging cables, batteries, toothpaste, and sanitary pads. “We try to keep up with what students need. We are first and foremost a bookstore, but we serve the university community.”

Taking care of families

Students don’t always have a lot of time to prepare for the holidays, but there’s no need to look far when it comes to the bare necessities like Christmas gifts, gift labels, and tape. “Anyone can look to us in a hurry, whether it’s for a children’s birthday party or Christmas. We have some decorations and we also offer gift wrapping services. I’m not saying I’m too good at it myself, but our clerks have gotten very skilled at wrapping gifts,” Óttarr remarks.

Óttar says the bookstore has also been trying to improve the children’s section. “We have almost all of the new children’s books and a varied selection of toys and children’s items.” Many students who have kids live on campus, but Óttarr points out that they are not the only ones benefiting from the new and improved kids’ section. “We serve all of the university, including staff, many of whom are parents and even grandparents.”

In the web we trust

On the bookstore’s website, boksala.is, you can find the store’s entire inventory, both Icelandic and foreign titles. There are also a few selected gift items and more. “You can order books on the website, but we mostly think of it as a database people can use to see what we have in stock at any given time,” says Óttarr. “The site is regularly updated, so when a new book comes in, it’s usually on the web the same day or the day after. If we run out of the book, it will become unavailable online. So the website can generally be trusted.”

A change in perspective

Óttarr says that the bookstore’s employees try to keep up with the development of sustainability. “We’ve been very aware of the changes taking place. It’s fun to notice how our customers completely stopped asking for plastic bags, for example. It’s been a long time since we’ve even offered plastic bags because some customers simply got mad about it. We now offer eco-friendly bags and are waiting for another shipment of new totes with the bookstore logo.”

“Another thing that really stands out about the Christmas book flood this year is that almost all Icelandic publishers have stopped wrapping their books in plastic,” says Óttarr. “It’s a bad habit and I don’t know when it started. Now there are fewer and fewere books wrapped in plastic, and it’s mostly art books or extremely fragile books that are wrapped.” Óttarr adds that publishers have become more aware of printing on sustainable paper, and most books today are printed with natural ink on paper from sustainable forests.

“We have also adopted this thinking when it comes to other items” in the University Store, adds Óttarr. “We are, for example, offering scented candles that are so natural that they’re edible, and we try to stock eco-friendly gifts and toys. We also have this policy in our coffee shop and it’s fun to do. It’s really nice to see this change of perspective.” Óttarr says it’s definitely a certain challenge to run a retail business with these values: “Over the years, retail has been focused on shoveling all kinds of items out.” Óttarr says the bookstore has also started thinking about more sustainable packaging. “We’re starting to see a wave in the kinds of packaging we have. I’m sure that our stock that has packaging and wrapping has lessened a lot.”

In regards to the climate discussion, the conversation turns to audiobooks. “We have followed the audiobook trend very closely,” says Óttarr. “We offer thousands of titles in audio format on our website. We also focus on having our textbooks available in audiobook form, and we have a partnership with the biggest audiobook retailer in the UK. Through them, we have many general audio titles.” When asked about Icelandic titles in audiobook form, Óttarr says that the Icelandic market is limited by its small size. “We haven’t gotten any audiobooks in Icelandic yet, but we feel that it may be in the works. The audiobooks will start trickling in, slow and steady.” It is worth mentioning that the bookstore has a very good special-order service, especially on books from Europe or in English, but also audiobooks. “The difference is that you can get the regular book in about ten days, but the audiobook in ten seconds.”

You can find information about opening hours, sales, and events at the University Bookstore on Facebook, Instagram, and in the store’s newsletter. Sign up for the newsletter on the bookstore’s website.

Facebook: /boksalastudenta

Instagram: /boksalastudenta

Website: www.boksala.is