In an effort to widen its services, the EC Bookstore recently launched a brand new website and introduced a textbook rental system, its director said.

The online site, located at bookstore.elcamino.edu, opened on Jan. 7. The bookstore will also be renting books from its own inventory this semester.

“It’s a process, but it’s been very good for the bookstore; It’s a much more stable environment,” Julie Bourlier, director of the bookstore, said. “Something that never worked with the previous online bookstore [was] that emails weren’t getting to the students when an order was canceled or when an order was ready for pickup. Now we’re finding that students are picking up their books much quicker than before.”

Currently, the site’s functions are dedicated toward selling textbooks, but students can expect additional services to make an appearance in the future.

“Right now we only have the textbook module to look up and purchase books,” Bourlier said. “The next rollout will be clothes, school supplies, and linking to registration. Previously, when you registered, you were able to look at what books you needed for your classes.”

The website will also offer the EC Compton Bookstore a measure of independence.

“Compton was never able to process books by themselves; they had to send the books here first,” Bourlier said. “Now they can process their own books, so it makes everything a lot faster.”

Finally, the website is expected to play an integral role in the bookstore’s new rental system.

“One of the reasons we switched was so we could put our rental books on the website,” Bourlier said. “Previously we used a third party that would ship books to your home directly. Now we have control of the whole rental process so we can hopefully lower the costs to the students.”

Minimizing cost was the primary impetus for the bookstore’s new textbook rental system.

“Typically renting a textbook is a little more than 50 percent of the price of a new book and less than 50 percent for used books,” Bourlier said. “We have about 200 titles available for rent in the store. We are looking to expand dramatically for the summer and fall.”

Some students have met the bookstore’s rental system with enthusiasm while others remain ambivalent about the service.

“Lots of people are preferring to rent books this semester,” Cyandal Williams, communications major and bookstore employee, said. “Renting is good and bad. Sometimes you can buy a book new and get half of your money back. Plus, I prefer to keep some of my books. I feel like some knowledge is life-long.”

“I bought my English book in the bookstore,” Nathan Kasi, 20, business major, said. “I bought a new one because I’m a new student, and I wanted everything to be new. I was thinking about taking care of it and selling it back next semester.”