Professors charge that the store has failed to inform them promptly of titles on their syllabi that have become unavailable.
"After my course had started, they kept me telling me about books that were out of print, instead of giving me a chance to rearrange my syllabus," says Professor of Sociology Aage B. Sorenson. "I think this type of arrogance is typical of monopolies."
The Coop's sheer size and volume has sometimes led to a lack of personalized customer service, some customers say.
"They didn't order the books for History 10b on time, then when they did, they came late," says Eric J. Lohr, a teaching fellow for the class. "Then someone returned them all."
But Sullivan says that the Coop's three-year-old affiliation with Barnes & Noble has helped it narrow the customer service gap between itself and smaller stores.
"Traditionally you would search for employees and not be able to find people in the college business or the book business," he says.
"Now we have access to some really fine people in this industry, because Barnes & Noble has affiliations with other schools," he says.
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