The bookstore will be outsourced to a contract management firm beginning in winter 2012, according to Craig Woody, the vice chancellor of Business and Financial Affairs at DU.

Woody made the final decision to outsource the bookstore to Follett Higher Education Group Inc. last week after consulting since the summer with the Bookstore Outsourcing Review Committee, comprised of students, faculty and staff and after discussing the issue with Chancellor Robert Coombe and Provost Gregg Kvistad.

“The contract management firm has greater depth in financial and technological resources to respond to the rapidly-changing college and university bookstore industry,” said Woody. “As is the case with all of the decisions we make here at the university, we made this decision with the goal of better serving our student and our campus community. We are always mindful that our primary duty is to provide value to our students.”

Follett Higher Education Group Inc. is a family-owned bookstore operator that operates more than 850 bookstores nationwide, including Arapahoe Community College in Littleton, Colo., Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colo. and Regis University in Denver.

The company also provides management systems, support services and used textbooks to over 1,800 independently managed bookstores.

The company also provides management systems, support services and used textbooks to over 1,800 independently managed bookstores.

“With Follett, the bookstore staff will continue to operate a first-class university bookstore that serves the needs of students and faculty,” Woody said. “This will most likely improve the ways we acquire course materials, which continues to evolve in today’s marketplace.”

According to Woody, bookstore employees will be allowed to keep their jobs, and prices on textbooks should remain the same. Options for books will include new, used, rental and e-content.

“This has been a long and thoughtful process, not a quick decision, but a well thought-out strategy to improve services to students and campus community,” said Woody. “The bookstore business has changed and DU wants to be able to provide the campus community with a state-of-[the]-art bookstore. I would like to take this opportunity to  thank the entire bookstore staff for their service and dedication to the University community.”