ACQUISITION OF

LIBRARY MATERIALS

ACQUISITIONS

the means by which additions are made to the

library (Wulfekoetter, 1961)
The process of securing materials for the library
collection, whether by purchase, as gifts, or
through exchange programs (Evans, 2000).
Primarily concerned with the ordering, claiming
and receipt of materials for the library (Gorman,
1998).
tasks include obtaining materials by purchase,
gift or exchange; paying for or acknowledging
receipt; and maintaining appropriate records

The place of
Acquisitions in the
Library
essentially a Structure
service unit for the public

services and must treat public services

departments and staff as customers to be
satisfied
works with the circulation department in
the preservation of the collection through
binding and rebinding and replacing lost,
or damaged, and worn-out materials
must work closely with the cataloging
department in materials processing in the
quickest and most economical way
possible

The Acquisitions
Librarian

skills needed: knowledge of the

book and other media; knowledge
of the publishing trade; familiar
with the basic cataloging
practices and policies; managerial
skills and business competence

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

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
Preorder work/bibliographic
verification
Ordering

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)

Some problems in
Bibliographic
Searching

Incomplete and/or incorrect

information
Variations in spelling of authors
name
Choice of main entry
Data supplied in the request

Ordering

Firm Order
Standing order
Approval plan
Blanket order

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

Forms, records and

files

Outstanding Order File

Standing Order File
Desiderata or Want file
Claims File
Requisitions, Vouchers File
Invoices file
Letter orders/Purchase Orders
Serials Check-in File
Accession Record
Dealers Payment Card
Financial Reports
Short Reports
Statement of Account
Credit Memos
Gifts/Exchanges Partners File
Delivery Receipts for On Approval titles

Methods of Acquisition

Purchase and subscription

Gifts and exchanges
Deposits

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
companys financial viability
ability to work with the librarys automation
system
special services available
special service offered

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 cooperatives
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