Managing Acquisitions in Library and Information Services

Citation

Taglienti, P. (2002), "Managing Acquisitions in Library and Information Services", Collection Building, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 78-80. https://doi.org/10.1108/cb.2002.21.2.78.1

Liz Chapman of the University of Oxford offers this title as the second edition of her earlier Buying Books for Libraries (London: Bingley, 1989). Like the previous edition, the work is aimed at students of library and information science and those new to the field as an introduction to the processing of acquisitions. She does not cover the management of staff or the selection of materials to be acquired, does treat the complete range of acquisitions processes from pre‐order checking to vendor assessment. The format is similar to the previous edition with much of the discussion of print resources reduced and the coverage of formats expanded. The work has a British focus but also provides reasonable US treatment.

While Chapman shifts away from print resources (especially bibliographies and publisher catalogues) to online vendor resources and Web booksellers, the work still includes sizable coverage of print titles. The author strikes a balance between print resources and online services, and this is an accurate reflection of the present state of the profession. However, her section on bibliographic verification stresses the use of many print directories and bibliographies but refers, almost in passing, to the use of online vendors to simplify this necessary and once burdensome procedure.

The author provides many valuable suggestions for interviewing potential book vendors and a detailed list of interview questions for integrated library system vendors concerning the capabilities of their acquisitions module. She also provides a helpful section on vendor selection that includes benefits and drawbacks of Web booksellers. The section on internal record keeping and processing seems to overly complicate a really very commonsense issue. Perhaps some of her suggestions may be useful for very large, complex library systems, but most small to mid‐sized libraries will find these procedures cumbersome and confusing.

In this straightforward and basic text, Chapman continues the theme from the first edition, the need for improved communication between the library and the supplier and, once again, her light‐hearted humour makes the text highly accessible. This work is recommended as a class textbook for students and as a refresher course for those returning to acquisitions. The issues she discusses and suggestions she makes are important basics of the field.