New campus book service SlingShot gets mixed reviews from MC students

This semester, students returned to campus in the midst of changes in mailroom and bookstore services. While this overhaul brought a more streamlined initiative to on-campus employees, the student body’s opinion has varied in response.

One of the most notable changes to the bookstore is the discontinuation of post office boxes. While the mailroom itself has not changed, store manager Ryan Lilly emphasized that operations have been streamlined.

“Because of the extra levels of attention we can provide to each individual package, we’re able to offer a much more personalized and better experience to students and faculty,” Lilly said.

Internally, the mailroom has begun scanning every letter and package, which has served to create a much easier inventory tracking system.

These significant updates to the bookstore process have also taken place on the digital front. Maryville College’s new course material delivery provider, Slingshot, has been met with a mix of enthusiasm and frustration from a student body grappling with the tangible costs of convenience.

Some students have found it difficult to find financially feasible ways to access their course materials through the Slingshot portal.

“It’s not easier in the slightest; in fact, it makes the process more complicated and harder to find cheaper alternatives,” said Rayna Welsch (‘28). “I’ve spent more on books this year than I did last year, even though I had way more online materials and books to buy last year.”

Another point of frustration comes with the new book-delivery service system enacted by Residence Life in partnership with Slingshot. Many students were surprised to find that their course materials had been personally delivered to their living spaces by Resident Assistants (RAs).

“I hated it, and I know hate is a strong word, but I’d use it in this situation,” noted Welsch. “I didn’t know the delivery would be personal; I thought it would go through the mail office, which I was comfortable with.”

“I really wish there had been a note or some kind of warning, because I had both my things and my roommate’s stuff on my desk. The door was locked, so it honestly made me feel unsafe. Even if it was just Residence Life, it felt like an invasion of my privacy,” Welsch continued.

Resident Assistants themselves found this process to be confusing and aggravating due to the inconsistencies with prior expectations regarding their roles and responsibilities.

“The books should have been left in front of the doors, and if they had to be inside rooms, then they should have been delivered to that building and distributed later by the RAs.” Noted an RA present for book distribution, who wished to remain anonymous.

“This process was also completely unfair in my opinion, since there was no notification for students that we were coming by to drop these books. Some of them had violations, which had to be written up,” said the RA. “This is unfair since in any other instance, like health and safety checks, the Resident Assistant must give a 48-hour notice to check a room unless probable cause is found.”

With these concerns in mind, there is assurance that work will be done to improve the process in the future. “Slingshot has been doing course material delivery for over 20 years [of their 28 years of operations],” reiterated Lilly. “We’ve had conversations with Residence Life to make it more efficient moving forward.”

While some members of the student body have found strife with the new system, others would like to note areas of improvement in comparison to years prior.

“From a technical perspective, you can have all of your course materials together in one place, choose your preferred formats, do practice questions, and even have texts read aloud to you with integrated TTS (Text-to-speech),” said Charlie Anderson (‘26).

Savannah Latham (‘28) shared a similar sentiment. “Slingshot seems to be much more positive in terms of accessibility. The read-aloud function may be helpful to those who are visually impaired as well.”

Through this contention of thought regarding Slingshot, some have found positive outlooks on the accessibility of their course materials through a personalized approach.

“This experience has made me appreciate the mailroom and bookstore so much more,” Welsch said. “The people there guided me through the entire process of returning books and helped me figure out exactly what I needed.”

“I like that it’s a smaller company, so communication is much more accessible,” added Lilly. “I’m not a person who likes change, but even after 13 years with another company, I think what Slingshot is doing is good.”

“Big store vendors actually modeled their programs after Slingshot’s,” Lilly said, mentioning Barnes and Nobles as an example. “It’s a very efficient system. There will be growing pains and adjustments involved for all members of the process, and a little breathing room is needed.”