"Now we have access to some really fine people in this industry, because Barnes & Noble has affiliations with other schools," he says.

Students say they are increasingly turning to on-line vendors for course books, though.

Now that Internet vendors are offering various editions at discount prices, students seem to be paying attention.

"I would choose Amazon.com over the Coop in a second," says Tara B. Purohit '99.

Other students are doing the same, it seems. "We had a lot of people in here this fall shopping the shelves, writing down information and leaving," Sullivan says.

Sullivan says the store will combat the Internet threat by trying to increase the quantity of used books it carries.

But, he cautions, this depends on professors. "If we can get course lists far enough in advance, we can look for the used books," Sullivan says.

To this end, employees started procuring books for the fall semester one month ago, Sullivan says.

The store's affiliation with Barnes & Noble has expedited the process, Sullivan says, because of the database, tracking system and warehouses that the Coop can now access.

"We can now get a book within 24 to 48 hours of the time it is ordered," Sullivan says.

Barnes & Coop

But the Barnes & Noble affiliation has its drawbacks.

The Coop's corporate general manager, Alan Powell, says that since the affiliation, the Coop has had to struggle with the widespread public assumption that it has been supplanted by a mega-corporation.

Other booksellers in the Square still hold this assumption.

Lisa Burkin, advertising and promotions manager for WordsWorth, says the uniformity in selection among most chain bookstores worries her.