ACQUISITIONS

LIS 202 Collection Management

Alma P. Gomes

MSLIS

What is acquisitions?

• is a process of locating and acquiring all types of library materials after they have been selected for a library’s collection.

Others have defined:

• Acquisitions is the process of identifying what the library ought to acquire, determining how from whom it can be obtained and actually getting it (Magrill and Corbin 1989)

Four goals of the acquisitions department• To acquire material as quickly as possible• To maintain a high level of accuracy in all

work procedures• To keep work processes simple, to achieve

the lowest possible unit cost• To develop close, friendly working

relationships with other library units and with vendors

Background for Acquisition Work

• the Acquisition Librarian must have a good general professional background in library and most importantly a knowledge of the publishing world.

• the Acquisition Librarian should be visiting large printing establishments and publishing firms and should have sufficient background bookbinding

• the Acquisition Librarian should be also checking current issues of book trade periodicals such as Publisher’s Weekly, Booksellers, plus a comprehensive knowledge about basic, retrospective and current bibliographic materials for selection

Acquisitions Department• To study the publishing and book trade in order to

know where and when to buy

• Build up pleasant relations with book stores, jobbers and book dealers

• To be constantly on the alert for new materials ex. new titles, new editions, new services

• To keep informed not only on governmental regulations an taxes that may affect the prices of library material but also on government regulations that may affect purchasing policies of libraries

• To participate in the selection of library materials to be acquired

• To compare various types of services to be able to get the best discounts and services

• To approve invoices for payment

• To maintain adequate records of various dealers being used as well as information on others who may be used in case of need

• To specify manner of transportation of incoming shipment to minimize delay

• To dispose of duplicate and withdrawn materials from the library

Detailed Functions of the Acquisitions Department

• Provide and maintain an up to date selection and order tools appropriate to the needs of the library to include publishers’ catalogs, trade bibliographies, etc. etc.

• maintain files of materials on order/in process in such a manner that will permit all staff members to use them with ease

• Perform pre-order bibliographic searching to avoid duplication, obtain sufficient information to permit order to be placed, and to establish the main entry that probably will be used when the material is catalogued

• select dealers or other sources for the purchase of materials, preparing and mailing orders, making provisions for the provision for the preparation of cataloging copy

• receiving, unpacking, sorting and checking in books

Detailed Functions of the Acquisitions Department

• approving invoices for payment; maintaining payment records

• mechanical preparation of books such as entering marks of identification and pasting book pockets/bar code labels, date due slips

• forwarding materials for cataloging• entering subscription orders, receiving and recording

periodical • Making follow-ups and claims for unfilled orders• Informing requestors of the availability of materials or

status of orders; preparation of New Acquisitions List• Searching for out-of-print materials• Materials selection• soliciting gifts and establishing exchange agreements;

maintaining appropriate records; receiving materials; sending exchange shipments to exchange partners

Acquisitions Process

• Request processing

Organize the incoming request(request processing) purpose is for efficient checking process

• Preorder work/bibliographic verification

Bibliographic verification or searching (pre-ordering) two elements

• Verification – establishing the existence of particular item• Identifying correct author, title, publisher, and other necessary

ordering data.• Searching – establishing whether the library needs to order

the item. • Ordering

note:The acquisitions process begin before a request reaches the ordering stage

Request processing

• Receiving requests for materials

• Organizing incoming requests

• Checking for request details accuracy

Preorder work / Bibliographic verification

• Establishing the existence if an item, which includes determining the exact name of the author, title, publisher, date of publication, price, and where it may be acquired.

• Determining whether the library wants of needs a copy (i.e. replacement for lost or damaged item, additional copy or duplicate copy)

Methods of Acquisition

• Purchase and subscription

• Gifts and exchanges

• Deposits

• Resource Sharing

• Transfer of custody - Custodial transfer is the means by which the Department of Archives & Special Collections acquires most university records. Custodial transfer applies only to public records in which legal custody has transferred from one office to another.

• Purchase - Purchase of manuscript and archival materials is normally discouraged. If a significant collection becomes available only through purchase, such an acquisition must be considered on its own merits. It is important to note that purchase of such materials tends to discourage donations by other potential donors. If more than one institution is involved in bidding for materials, the needs of the patrons may be subverted. For these reasons, purchase of materials is generally limited to commercially published materials only.

• Deposit - Materials on deposit in the Department of Archives & Special Collections must be covered in a contractual agreement between the University or Archives and the depositing agency. Collections may be deposited in the Department if a contractual deposit agreement has been established and approved by the Archivist/Special Collections Librarian.

Library subsription - A purchase made by signed order, as for a periodical for a specified period of time or for a series of performances.

An agreement to receive or be given access to electronic texts or services, especially over the Internet.

Donation - Donation of materials is both an active process of soliciting for particular materials and a passive process of accepting materials that are brought into the Archives. The Archives both encourages donation of materials to the Archives and actively solicits for particular materials. It is the Archives' policy to encourage donation of materials that are in keeping with the subject scope of the Archives/Special Collections collection. The Archivist/Special Collection Librarian may accept gifts of materials with mixed historical value if he/she has the right to discard or otherwise remove unwanted items.

Resource sharing - mean utilizing information resources of one library for generating services of another library

• It also may mean sharing of all these resources for the mutual benefit of libraries and their users

Acquisition plans

• Approval Order Plan: A jobber automatically sends all materials that match predetermined criteria. Items can be purchased or returned.

• Lease plan: Libraries (especially public) lease several copies of a popular book from a jobber for a short time.

• Standing Order: An arrangement with a publisher where libraries continue to receive an item until the order is canceled. It is most often used for materials that are regularly published or updated, e.g. almanacs, yearbooks, series.

• Blanket Order – no profile, the librarian simply tells the publisher or jobber to send everything published under a given price or everything within a given subject area or all trade books, or special requirements

• Indent Order – usually done with foreign publishers

Cooperative collection development and

resource sharing

• A mechanism which provides for two or more libraries enter an agreement that each one will have certain areas of “primary collecting responsibility” and the exchange of such materials with one another with no charges

• Coordinated acquisitions whereby two or more libraries agree to buy certain materials, and/or share the associated costs and one or more members houses the material

• Joint acquisitions whereby the members place a joint order for a product or service and each member receives the product service

Benefits of Cooperative collection development

• Increased potential for improving access• Greater possibility of stretching limited resources• Sharing that can result to greater staff specialization

with one person being able to concentrate on one or two activities rather than five or six with specialization resulting to better performance

• Promoting and advertising the cooperative’s presence in the library program may reduce the number if places a client will need to go for service

• Though not thoroughly obvious, cooperative efforts create improvements in the working relationships among cooperative libraries

Acquisitions Work: Its Character and Organization

Acquisition work – means by which additions are made to the library’s collection.

The character of the acquisition work:

1. Responsible for the coordination of expenditures of the library’s fund with regard to its collection

2. Keeps the expenditures within the boundaries laid down by the administration

Work of the Acquisition department touches that of every other department for it is where the beginning of the library processes starts

Responsibility for Acquisition Work

Acquisition is usually handled by professional librarians. As the library grows, some of her professional duties are delegated to her staff. The work which would not relinquish to her staff are:

- disbursement of the book fund

- decisions concerning choice of agents or sources of library materials

- decisions on the choice of library materials to purchase

Order Work: Preparing the Orders

I. Bibliographic Searching

II. Forwarding Order to Jobbers

III. Receiving the Order

IV. Payment of Orders

Bibliographic Searching

• Implies establishing, according to cataloging procedure the entry under which material is to be ordered, as well as verifying the bibliographic data needed to identify it.

• It includes determination of exact:

- title, series, edition, publisher’s name, place of publication, address of the publisher, year of publication, number of volumes and price

Some problems in Bibliographic Searching

• Incomplete and/or incorrect information

• Variations in spelling of author’s name

• Choice of main entry

• Data supplied in the request

Forwarding Order to Jobbers and Dealers

Types of books ordered:

a. Current Trade Books

for currently published books always consult the latest editions of Book in Print or Publisher’s Trade List Annual

b. Non-Trade and Older Books

include publications of society, institutional and governmental publications

c. Rare Booksones published anonymously or pseudonymously early editions of classics

Receiving the Orders

a. Unpacking shipments – compare the books with the invoices and arrange them according to their billings

b. Checking Process – consist of examination of materials received, to see that it is good condition, comparison of the material against the order form as well as with the invoices to see that all agree

c. Approval of Invoices – after checking accuracy of books against the bill an approval is necessary

d. Forwarding Bills for Payment – varies from library to library

Payment of Orders

A. Accessioning – means leading to the information of certain titles or volumesa. using a consecutive number of invoicesb. using a combination of an abbreviation for the source

B. Forwarding of Material – with the books stamped or marked, the material is ready for forwarding to the cataloging department

C. Notification of Receipt – notify of the arrival of the material to the library

D. Fiscal and statistical records of receipt – enter the payment on account books or ledgers. Actual cost must be entered to keep the financial record in balance

Ordering workflow

• Before placing an order, the staff must decide on: which acquisition method to use, what vendor to use and where to get the money

• Order placement and receiving : - vendor selection- Preparation of Purchase Order (PO) - assigning order numbers for control and tracking - submission of orders through mail, fax or e-mail - order receipt and verification - claims and follow-ups - receipt of ordered items- checking deliveries against Purchase Order and packing slip/list- checking physical condition of delivered materials- property marking by stamping or embossing- approving invoices for payment

Some common problems in the receipt of materials ordered

• wrong entries/data in the invoice

• wrong edition sent

• items ordered but not received

• Items not ordered but shipped

• Too may or not enough copies

• Imperfect copies received

Jobbers and vendors

• Jobber – a wholesaler who stocks many copies of various kinds of books which he supplies to certain retail outlets and to libraries (Wulfekoetter, 1961)

• can give customers both the short discounts and the trade discounts

Concerns when making decisions on which vendor to choose

• service (reliable agent, toll-free numbers, websites, etc.)

• quality of service – ask for references and check ability to handle conflicts and problems

• speed fulfillment and accuracy• discounts and pricing• company’s financial viability• ability to work with the library’s automation system• special services available• special service offered

VENDORS

• Is defined as the wholesaler or middleman through which library materials are purchased.

• a person or company providing merchandise or services to a retail store also known as supplier.

Selecting Vendor

1. Service –a representative, tool-free numbers, Websites

2. Quality of service- as for and check reference, ease of handling “problems

3. Speed of fulfillment- this includes accuracy

4. Discount and pricing

5. Vendors financial viability

6. Special service available-free and at a cost

Publisher

• a person or body which issues copies of book or other item to the publics.

• one that is engaged in publishing printed material

• a person or company whose business is the publishing of books, periodicals, engraving computer system etc.

• the business head of a newspaper organization or publishing house, commonly the owner or the representative of the owner.

More on Material Selection

Criteria for the Purchases of all Library Materials

Intended Audience Content Format and Technical Qualities

• Students’ interests

• Teachers’ curriculum

• Professional reference

• Parents’ interests

• Grade levels

• Reading levels

•Accuracy

•Currency and timeliness

•Tone and style

•Appeal

•Organization

•Logical sequencing

•Print and Non-print

•Type of visuals

•Quality of visuals

•Clarity of design

•Clarity of graphics

Criteria for the Purchase of all Library Materials

Intended Audience Content Format and Technical Qualities

• Ethnic groups Languages spoken

• School programs

• Cost vs. usage

• Past usage

•Reflect cultural diversity

•Reference features

•Authors’ and illustrators’ credentials

•Unique to the collection

•Complements and supplements other materials

•Durability

•Quality of narration

•Effective music

•Realistic sound effect

•User-friendly

•Flexible usage

Acquisition of Periodicals

• Broader category “serials” includes: periodicals, annuals, government documents, conference proceedings

• Types of periodicals: – popular magazines– Specialized magazines – newspapers (local, state, national, international), – trade periodicals, – Journals: scholarly/peer reviewed/academic

Periodicals

• Check-in by issue (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly)

– manual and/or online

• Policies and issues: – retention/weeding, – shelving, – microform, – circulation policies, – online subscriptions, – indexing

Initialisms to Know

• ISBN - International Standard Book Number; for books. (ISBN-13)

• ISSN - International Standard Serials Number; for periodicals.

• NYP - Not yet published (also: forthcoming)• OP - Out of print• OS - Out of stock• OSI - Out of stock indefinitely • BO - Back ordered

References:

Disher, Wayne. Collection Development: a crush course. Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited, 2007

Henderson, Kathryn Luther. Technical services management, 1965-1990 : a quarter century of change and a look to the future. New York :Haworth Press, 1996

Godden, Irene P. Library technical services : operations and management. Florida : Academic Press, 1984

Kao, Mary Liu. Introduction to technical services for library technicians. New York : Haworth Information Press, 2001.

Katz, William. Collection Development: the Selection of Materials for Libraries. New York :Holt, Rinehart and Winston,1980.

Scholtz, James C. Video acquisitions and cataloging : handbook. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press,1995.

Van Orden, Phyllis. Collection program in schools : concepts, practices, and information sources. Englewood, Colo. Libraries Unlimited, 1995

Wilkinson, Frances C. The complete guide to acquisitions management. Westport, Conn. :Libraries Unlimited, 2003.

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