Approval plan

An Approval Plan describes the process of automated selection and acquisition of media in the library system .

These typical tasks of libraries are transferred to the responsibility of the supplier in the course of an approval plan. An approval plan is thus a form of outsourcing . The American bookseller Richard Abel developed the first approval plan in 1962. Since then, approval plans have established themselves particularly in the US library system.

aims

Libraries use approval plans to increase efficiency in procurement management. Outsourcing is intended to shorten delivery times, relocate personnel capacities and, last but not least, optimize the balance sheet for inventory development: “The unit costs per title fall disproportionately.” Approval plans are also intended to support the libraries in meeting the information requirements associated with the dissemination of digital media To meet lifecycle management . Ideally, the use of an approval plan is preceded by extensive rationalization measures for the existing organizational forms and work processes.

methodology

Every approval plan is based on the acquisition profile. Here are z. B. noted authors, work types and subject areas that are particularly relevant for the respective library. Economic framework conditions can also find their way into the profile so that, for example, a fixed budget for literature procurement and inventory building is not exceeded. The more precisely a profile is defined, the more appropriate the purchase recommendations derived from it can be. Acquisition profiles are dynamic elements. Changes in the thematic orientation of the libraries must be continuously incorporated. The second requirement for an approval plan is a continuously updated publication database. New publications from the publishers must be viewed and cataloged in accordance with the standardized requirements of the exchange formats of the book trade ( ONIX and MARC21 ). These tasks require specially trained personnel on the part of the supplier, e.g. B. Specialist editors for special topics. The Approval Plan is generated from a comparison of this database with the library's acquisition profile. Depending on the technical implementation, the current media inventory of the library is also included in the comparison in order to exclude the ordering of duplicates . The extent to which the library is included in the further selection and ordering process depends on the type of approval plan.

Types of Approval Plans

A distinction is made between fully automated and semi-automated approval plans. The first case, the fully automated approval plan, is the variant traditionally practiced in the USA. Book orders and deliveries take place automatically without the library having previously confirmed the recommended titles. The prerequisite is the possibility of being able to return the returns in an uncomplicated manner. In contrast, with the semi-automated approval plan, the library's purchase recommendations are presented for selection before an order is placed. The selection can be made using a printed list or, more recently, via a web interface.

Acceptance in Germany

In Germany, some subject librarians at libraries fear that an approval plan could reduce their competencies and responsibilities in the acquisition process. They do not want to accept "that the approval plan supplier makes a preliminary decision on the selection of securities on the basis of the acquisition profile and that the specialist advisor" only "inspects the deliveries for approval". With the outsourcing of traditional fields of activity of specialist speakers, their workplaces would be available. On the other hand, against the background of decreasing personnel capacities, the opposite is also argued. One of the goals of outsourcing can be to "free librarians for tasks that have not yet been carried out, which are generally assessed at least as high in terms of quality requirements as the previous ones". Also in the area of media processing (senior and medium-level service or certified librarians / FaMI) there is great potential for rationalization through the use of approval plans. a. by automating pre-access, making ordering easier, exchanging transaction data, etc.

The synergy effects can be used to expand the range of services of the libraries and thereby adapt them to changed user behavior.

literature

Angelika Brauns: Inventory structure and acquisition policy at US university libraries: the use of approval plans using the example of the Earl Gregg Swem Library (Williamsburg, Virginia) . Berlin 2008. (PDF; 840 kB)
Michael Golsch: Approval Plan and Automated Data Import - The Dresden Acquisition Model In: BlT online. 13/2010, No. 2., pp. 129-134. (PDF; 236 kB)

Rolf Griebel, Renate Peters: Outsourcing in the acquisition. Report on a workshop in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. In: Library Service. 32nd year (1998), No. 5, pp. 899-905. (PDF)

Regina Lichti: New ways ... Synergetic inventory development in performance partnerships: Approval Plans - the supply side Lecture at the 98th German Librarianship Conference in Erfurt on June 5, 2009. (PDF; 55 kB)

Robert F. Nardini: Approval Plans In: Miriam A. Drake (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. Taylor & Francis, London 2003, ISBN 0-8247-2075-X , pp. 133-138. (PDF)

Konrad Umlauf: Profile of the holdings, holdings concepts and organization of the inventory structure in public libraries In: Peter Zahn (Hrsg.): Berlin handouts for library science and librarian training. Issue 16, Berlin 1994. (PDF; 120 kB)

Web links

Example of a virtual approval plan system with an explanatory organizational chart

Individual evidence

↑ cf. Richard Abel: The Origin of the Library Approval Plan. In: Publishing Research Quarterly. Vol. 11, No. 1/1995, pp. 46-56.
^ Michael Golsch: Approval Plan and Automated Data Import - The Dresden Acquisition Model In: BlT online. 13/2010, No. 2., pp. 129-134, p. 129.

↑ cf. Rolf Griebel, Renate Peters: Outsourcing in the acquisition. Report on a workshop in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. In: Library Service. 32nd year (1998), No. 5, pp. 899-905, p. 901.

↑ cf. Regina Lichti: New ways ... Synergetic inventory development in performance partnerships: Approval Plans - the supply side. Lecture at the 98th German Librarians' Day in Erfurt on June 5, 2009, p. 2f.

↑ Angelika Brauns: Inventory structure and acquisition policy at US university libraries. The use of approval plans using the example of the Earl Gregg Swem Library (Williamsburg, Virginia). Berlin 2008, p. 62.

^ Rolf Griebel, Renate Peters: Outsourcing in the acquisition. Report on a workshop in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. In: Library Service. 32nd year (1998), No. 5, pp. 899-905, p. 900.

[1] . Richard Abel: The Origin of the Library Approval Plan. In: Publishing Research Quarterly. Vol. 11, No. 1/1995, pp. 46-56.

[2] Michael Golsch: Approval Plan and Automated Data Import - The Dresden Acquisition Model In: BlT online. 13/2010, No. 2., pp. 129-134, p. 129.

[3] . Rolf Griebel, Renate Peters: Outsourcing in the acquisition. Report on a workshop in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. In: Library Service. 32nd year (1998), No. 5, pp. 899-905, p. 901.

[4] . Regina Lichti: New ways ... Synergetic inventory development in performance partnerships: Approval Plans - the supply side. Lecture at the 98th German Librarians' Day in Erfurt on June 5, 2009, p. 2f.

[5] Angelika Brauns: Inventory structure and acquisition policy at US university libraries. The use of approval plans using the example of the Earl Gregg Swem Library (Williamsburg, Virginia). Berlin 2008, p. 62.

[6] Rolf Griebel, Renate Peters: Outsourcing in the acquisition. Report on a workshop in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. In: Library Service. 32nd year (1998), No. 5, pp. 899-905, p. 900.