Textbook Rental Plan: Textbook Return

The process for returning textbooks at the end of the semester or school year consists of several steps. They include:

1. The collection of student textbooks;

2. Verification of book numbers with student names;

3. Creating a list of lost books with the names of the students responsible for those books.

4. Inform these students of the need to return the books in person or by email.

5. Doing an inventory.

6. Check if the books lost during the year appear in the inventory.

7. During inventory, separating books in need of repair and books too damaged for reuse and throwing them away.

8. Determine how many new textbooks should be purchased for the next year.

Let me now explain to you how we did the whole process.

• Because students need their textbooks to study before the quiz or final exam, the textbooks were handed out on the way to the exam room or during last period with their teacher.

• If the class teacher were to collect the books during last period, the teacher would collect the books and mark on the class list those that were returned and create a list of the names of the students who still need to return their books. The teacher would then arrange for the lists and books to be delivered to the teacher’s assistant in the book storage room.

• For those students who are going to an exam, their books are stacked in class groups at the door of the exam room when they enter to take the exam. The class teacher would then go through the books, mark the ones returned, and make a list of the students who had not returned their books.

• Once the books for each grade level were collected, the teacher’s assistant would inventory those books using the computer file checking off the names as they go. He would check to see if any of the “unreturned” or “lost” books were in inventory. He would then create a list of lost books and student names for the department head, along with a note of the “alleged” lost books that turned up in the inventory. (Students who have lost books are informed.) The list of lost books is updated regularly.

• Heavily damaged books were also noted with the possibility of the student being asked to pay for a replacement book.

• During this inventory, the books are placed in numerical order to make it easier to check the numbers.

• When the students were returning their books, they were told where to return their book if they forgot to bring it at the appropriate time.

• As the students were no longer in school after the exams, a pro forma letter was sent to each family regarding the missing textbook requesting its return or payment for a replacement book. Often a sibling or friend returns the book at the beginning of the new teaching year.

• Because not all levels of each year finished the school year at the same time, the process takes place over a month. This makes the process less hectic than handing out textbooks at the beginning of the school year. It also allows the department head to use younger students to return their older siblings’ lost textbooks.

• Once all the return of books is finished, those that need repair are separated. Those that are badly damaged are discarded. The repair process is carried out under the direction of the teacher’s aide who is assisted by some of the younger students still at the school.

Students leaving during the school year are asked to return books to their classroom teacher, who will remove the book from the class list and return it to the teacher’s assistant. Sometimes these students unexpectedly level without returning their book. A letter is sent requesting its return or payment for the replacement of the book.

Some problems arise that add difficulties to the process. They include:

• Students who claim to have returned the book. They can meet with the teacher’s assistant to check if their number is there.

• A student who has a book that is not the one given to him. They are asked to return it by telling their teacher about the situation. Often his book has been returned by someone else. Therefore, her name will not be on the delinquent list.

• If a student pays for a lost book and it does not turn up, a full refund is sent.

Once the damaged books are repaired, a final inventory will inform the department head of any shortfalls in each group of textbooks, allowing him or her to budget for replacement books.

Using this process, our loss/damage rate was generally less than 5%. Most books, if taken care of well, would last at least three years. The repaired books were always the last to be delivered in case of need. They were more likely to be given to students who lost a book or damaged the book they were given.