By: Diane Summers

You've probably noticed that the UHD Barnes & Noble bookstore is constantly changing. Merchandise is continually moving in and out, retail sections change to bring in popular items, and of course, the downstairs textbook section is always a critical stop for students at the beginning of each semester.

Bookstore manager Bill Schaub keeps things running smoothly, and he's a face you'll see on every level of the bookstore helping customers locate exactly what they need. It's a busy job that Schaub, who has been involved in the campus bookstore industry for 29 years, enjoys. "You either love it or you hate it," Schaub explains. Fortunately for UHD, Schaub is someone who loves his work and our bookstore reflects this care and attention to detail.

Schaub laughs as he recalls his adventures in managing university bookstores and their inventory. As a bookstore representative, he's driven over 500,000 miles in eight years and cumulatively spent two years living out of hotels. Schaub was born on a college campus, spending a year at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where his father was in graduate school and his mother was employed; since then he has never been far from a college campus.

Over the years, Schaub has seen many changes in the bookstore industry—particularly in textbooks. With our bookstore now offering new, used, digital, and rental textbooks, the shifts in textbook inventories match the needs of our students. "Rental has been hugely successful, so we're including more titles as rental options for classes," Schaub says. "Digital is also expanding and publishers are introducing more options." Schaub notes an exciting new enhancement to digital is text-to-speech capabilities, which "will actually read the textbook to the student."

So what's next? Schaub is keeping UHD at the forefront, and has partnered with UHD IT to integrate Nook Study and Blackboard, giving students and faculty enhanced communication and interaction through digital books. Expect this integration to roll out in Spring 2012.

With his busy job, Schaub smiles as he reveals another joy - a new addition to his family, a 2-week-old son. Schaub and his wife have 4 children, including two older children and two younger sons.