Acquisitions & Collection Development
Acquisitions Department Contacts | Collection Development Manual | Departmental Library Liaisons | Information for New Faculty
Library Collection Building and Faculty Orders
COLLABORATIVE COLLECTION BUILDING
Building the library collection at the University of Evansville is a joint responsibility of the librarians and the teaching faculty. The librarians select most reference and interdisciplinary materials and periodicals, and the members of the teaching faculty order books or videos in their disciplines, some reference works, and make recommendations for library purchases of other reference materials and periodicals. The Library's Acquisitions Department actually places the orders and receives the materials. Back
ORDERING MATERIALS
The library subscribes to a card-based reviewing service run by Choice, the reviewing journal of the Association of College and Research Libraries. The Acquisitions staff divides these review cards by subject discipline and sends them to each department where the departmental Library Liaison usually distributes them to the faculty members.
If, after reading a Choice card review, a faculty member believes that the book (etc.) belongs in the library, he/she simply initials the card and returns it to the departmental Liaison, who also initials it and sends it on to the Acquisitions Department for ordering; allocation of these funds within the department is determined by each department.
Orders for materials other than those reviewed by Choice must be made on a standard order card available from the Liaison or the Acquisitions Department. Care must be taken to fill these cards out as accurately and completely as possible; brochures or other publisher's materials relevant to the order can be attached to the card to insure accurate processing. However, a completed card is required for each order and all orders must be sent through the departmental Library Liaison. Standard order cards are not necessary if a Choice card is used. Back
OTHER TYPES OF MATERIALS
Most library orders will be for books. Videos, standalone electronic resources, or other nonprint materials, which will be processed and housed in the library, may be ordered as well; these are charged against the same departmental allocation account as books. Journals (print or electronic), being a continuing commitment, are treated in an entirely different manner than are books or other single-expenditure purchases. The Periodicals Librarian will be glad to explain the journal selection process to you. Web-based electronic databases also require a continuing commitment as well as technical arrangements with the publisher, and recommendations for these should be also be made to the Acquisitions and Collection Development Librarian. Back
LIMITATIONS
The University of Evansville is an undergraduate-oriented institution which directly or indirectly demands library use of its student body. Funds are adequate but not unlimited and care must be taken to obtain as many quality, scholarly items accessible to undergraduates as possible. Ordering either esoteric works suitable only for advanced research or popular materials for recreational use is not really advisable; significant works of fiction relevant to courses being taught may, of course, be ordered as needed.
To "stretch" the budget as far as possible, the library does not normally order multiple copies of a book unless there is a compelling need such as in the case of the World Cultures sequence. If frequent access to a single title is needed, use of the Reserve service which is available through the Circulation Desk is often a satisfactory solution.
Additions to the collection should be of relatively permanent value, and so the library does not normally order current textbooks. Instructional materials such as workbooks (which by design are destroyed through use), laboratory or office software, and items with consumable components such as answer sheets should not be ordered with library funds. Back
ORDER INFORMATION, DELIVERIES, RECOMMENDATIONS
All ordered items appear in the A.C.E online catalog soon after an order is placed, and the order status is indicated on screen (on order, in process, etc.). Orders received for previously-ordered or already-owned titles are returned to the Liaison stamped ON ORDER, IN PROCESS, or BOOK IN LIBRARY depending on the situation.
Book delivery periods vary widely but, unless "rush" service is requested, a 6-8 week turnaround time is typical. Videos are usually received more quickly.
Frequently, one or more of the librarians will read a Choice card or some other review and believe that a book should be ordered for the general collection by a department. He/she will initial the Choice card or prepare a standard order card, and the Acquisitions Department will stamp it LIBRARY RECOMMENDS and send it to the appropriate department for a final decision. Others may be stamped FYI (For Your Information) which is not really a recommendation but an "alert" that the Collection Development Librarian believes that this is a good book but is uncertain as to its relevance to the department. In either case, such a card need only be initialed and returned to the departmental Library Liaison, and it will be treated as any other departmental order.
A comprehensive description of the collection building process is found in the University Libraries Collection Development Manual.
Questions concerning the order process should be directed to the Acquisitions Department at 488-2463 or you may e-mail Acquisitions and Collection Development Librarian Marvin Guilfoyle at mg29@evansville.edu. Back
Last update: 11 Feb 05 mas
