With conveyer belts, scanners and a self-serve system, the new Textbook Rental is shaping to be one of Eastern’s most innovative facilities.

But uncertainty still remains about when construction of the new building will begin.

“We’re hoping pretty quickly you’ll see quite a bit of activity out there,” said Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs. “Some things will be limited in terms of weather. You can’t pour a concrete slab. We can do foundation work and excavation.”

On Nov. 21, the Board of Trustees approved a construction bid to Felmley-Dickerson Company of Bloomington for $2,847,234 to build the new facility.

Nadler said as of now planning is being done for construction such as establishing temporary electricity and construction fences around the site of the new facility, which is off Edgar drive, near Greek Court.

He added the new facility, ideally, would be operating in the beginning of spring 2010.

The location of the new Textbook Rental was first put into place in the Campus Master Plan, which was adopted in 1999.

Nadler said when he started working at Eastern in 2005, the new Textbook Rental was still a concept.

The current Textbook Rental is on the edge of Pemberton Hall which was originally designed to be a gymnasium, Nadler said.

“Modifications, as best as possible, have been done over the years, but there’s only so much you can do with limited space on three different floors,” he said.

The $2.8 million project will be funded entirely through student fees.

In April 2008, the board approved a $1 per credit hour increase to the Textbook Rental Services fee in order to have enough money for construction of the new facility.

Students currently pay $9.95 per credit hour for textbooks.

A collaborative effort between the Student Affairs Office and the Facilities, Planning and Management developed a flexible plan for the new Textbook Rental.

The plan will accommodate future technological developments and other unforeseen needs, Nadler said.

The plan calls for the building, which is 19,000 square feet, to house all textbook materials on one floor.

Nadler said the design of the new building would allow more students to wait inside the facility for their textbooks.

“There would be very rare occasions, I think, that you would see any students standing outside,” he said.

New technology will be used for checking out books, such as RDF Readers.

The readers will be able to scan stacks of books at one time and register those books to the individual student, Nadler said.

He added the new facility would have a self-serve style.

With this style, students will use their Panther Card, rummage through the shelving area and get their books.

Conversely, the current Textbook Rental service has students standing in line while employees get their books in the shelving area.

“We’ll try to monitor the numbers coming through, so it doesn’t get too crowded at one time,” Nadler said of the self-serve system.

Because of the new service system and use of innovative technology, the process of receiving textbooks will be more efficient for students, Nadler said.

He added, initially, much of the Textbook Rental staff would be used in different ways.

“A lot of the staff will be assisting students versus constantly grabbing books and having students stand in line,” Nadler said.

He added, as time progresses, the current number of temporary staff might not be needed.

Typically, temporary staff is brought in to help around the beginning and end of the semester.

“I don’t see any major change in how many students we use and how many student organizations we use to help with these things,” Nadler said.

Other features of the new facility include a geothermal energy system and conveyer belts.

The energy system runs on about 50 percent of a normal energy system, Nadler said.

The conveyer belts will also automatically sort returned books in particular bins, which will be placed in specific locations around the building. Nadler said the conveyer belt system would also help make the textbook service efficient.

“We’ve come up with a really good plan,” he said. “It’s never perfect, but I think a lot of careful thought and planning has gone into the design.”

When planning, Nadler said the emphasis was on flexibility. He added the few Textbook Rental services that are in existence are limiting.

“With the design of the facility, with the technology we are going to put over there, it’s going to be cutting edge,” Nadler said. “It’s going to be without a doubt the finest Textbook Rental facility in the country.”

Stephen Di Benedetto can be reached at 581-7942 or at sdibenedetto@eiu.edu.