A ‘library’ within a bookstore

Press, 19 May 1982, Page 28

A ‘library’ within a bookstore

The University Bookshop at Ham has more than 12,000 titles in stock, making it the largest university bookshop in New Zealand.

For many years, if customers were prepared to devote the time, they could probably find the book they needed. Now, with extensions to the premises, this dilemma has been overcome. The extensions have almost doubled the size of the store, allowing far more room to display the books and expand some lines. Prior to setting tip store on campus, The University Bookshop was housed in premises in Montreal Street and later, the business moved to Union Street.

Jointly owned by the student union and Printing and Packaging, Ltd, (a subsidiary company of Whitcoulls, Ltd) it has now been six years since the move from Union Street to the University. Another store has also been established at The Arts Centre. Mr David Ault, has been the manager for the last eight years and, during this time, the range of books has diversified and sales have doubled.

Photograph albums, calculators, memo boards, posters and prints are all sold through the store. They also have imported stationery sets of “Catfolio,” a packaged set including letterheads, postcards, stamps and stickers, all featuring the feline housecats.

Posters and prints vary in price (up to $4O) and the store also offers the service of block mounting for posters at an additional cost.

Other gift lines include Schaffer pens, book tokens and a special student planner

diary designed by a local student. This ring-bound diary has the important dates for all universities listed and costs $3.95.

“The name of the store can be a bit misleading,” Mr Ault says. “This is far more of a general bookshop than simply a university bookshop.” Children’s books, travel, music, cookery, feminism, do-it-yourself books, autobiographies, poetry and science fiction — all the features of a library within a bookstore are there. In the art materials, the casual painter as well as the fine arts student has been catered for. Varnish matt, varnish gloss and a good range of pastel shades are stocked — brand names include Rowney, Winsor and Newton, Haydn and Turner. The paper for art supplies starts from the lightweight grade, costing 10c a sheet, to the art grade paper costing 96c a sheet. Canvas boards range from $4 up to $25. About 10 per cent of the stock is made up in text books.

Based at the University, it subsequently has a very strong section of academic and technical reference books. Philosophy, religious studies, literary criticism and political science, and all the extensions of these subjects are covered.

To celebrate the extensions, The University Bookshop has reduced the prices of two very special books. “Man’s Conquest of the Pacific — Prehistory of SouthEast Asia and Oceania,” by Peter Bellwood, normally costs $35 and has been reduced to $9.95. This 423 page book starts with the earliest traces of man in South-East Asia and the diffusion to off shore islands such as New Zealand. The second book is “The South Island of New Zealand From The Road,” by Robin Morrison. This beautifully presented collection of photographs costs $4O, instead of the normal price, $65. The store operates more than 600 overseas accounts, with firms in America, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. Also, available on microfiche is the list of recent books in print. This service is up-dated every two months.

Because the majority of the store’s customers are

students, a 30-day credit is available for all accounts. The next development that Mr Ault wants to see is the introduction of a stock control computer. “We tend to buy small quantities of various books but because of the total number of books held in stock the administration is difficult,” according to Mr Ault.

“It is extremely time-con-suming to undertake this stock-control manually,” he says.

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