Professors support Svoboda's textbooks

It doesn't have a catchy radio jingle, its name doesn't roll off the tongue and it's located well away from the main campus walkways.

Even so, Svoboda's Books, 227 W. Beaver Ave., is attracting the attention of some University instructors who promote the store to students.

"I like the independent bookstore rather than the big chains," said David Kress, an instructor who asks his English 200 students to buy books for his class at Svoboda's. "I like the people there; you get more personal attention."

Although individual instructors are free to submit their book list to other stores such as Svoboda's, the University has a contract requiring professors to submit all textbook lists to the Penn State Bookstore, which is managed by Barnes & Noble, said Tom Bauer, manager of the Penn State Bookstore.

Bauer said it is a disservice to students to ask them to shop at Svoboda's, since the store only carries select textbooks and most students visit one of the large textbook stores first.

"I think students have more important things to do than run all over town looking for books," Bauer said.

But Svoboda's has a local connection in the community that helps it keep the support of instructors, said Robin Becker, associate professor of English and women's studies.

"Anybody can go into a Barnes & Noble anywhere, but this is where we live," she said. "This is our home."

Michael Svoboda, principal owner of the bookstore, has ties in the community dating back more than two decades.

As a graduate student at the University in the 1980s, Svoboda started selling books out of his State College apartment. After six months, he moved his bookstore to a small downtown store, where Svoboda's Books grew for seven years until moving to its present location in 1990.

The store started processing textbook lists two and a half years ago, Svoboda said.

But on the first of this year, Svoboda took his name off the payroll of the bookstore he started.

"We had to find a way to cut costs," he said, adding he still oversees some of the financial operations of the bookstore even though he is not an official employee. "I think the nature of the business has changed in some ways."

Among the biggest changes have been the growing influence of chain book stores on the publishing industry, said Tony Sanfilippo, manager of Svoboda's

Some authors, such as professors whose books are unlikely to become bestsellers, can have trouble getting published because chain bookstores tend to buy large quantities of popular books, but often don't carry smaller publishers, Sanfilippo said.

"There's a lot of political reasons why people don't want to deal with Barnes & Noble," Sanfilippo said.

Perhaps one of the biggest reasons instructors support the store's textbook sales is to convince students to keep shopping there.

Heather Suders (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) said going to Svoboda's for her English books introduced her to a nice store she would not have gone to otherwise.

"Since I've been there," she said, "I might go back."