Acquisition (library)
The acquisition or accessions (from latin accessio , the addition ') is an operation in libraries . It consists of various activities that serve to acquire new publications .
The acquisition of new publications serves to build up or expand the library holdings of a library. In 2012, German libraries spent around 399 million euros on acquisitions. In smaller libraries, acquisitions are often carried out by a single librarian or only assisted on the side, while larger libraries usually have their own acquisitions department. After the acquisition has been completed, the new publications are entered in the library catalog in the next step, cataloging , before they can finally be borrowed by library users. The opposite process to acquisition, in which superfluous media are discarded, is deacession . Acquisition and de-assignment together are sometimes referred to as inventory building, inventory management, or inventory development.
In the context of acquisitions, the library inventory is not only increased through purchases, but also through deposit copies , donations , exchanges and licensing. In addition, through membership in associations, libraries have free access to the publications of these associations. In order to make rare books available once per country, libraries work together in acquisition cooperations.
statistics
According to German library statistics , the 8,200 German libraries spent around 399 million euros on acquisitions in 2012. Of this, around 300 million went to the almost 250 scientific and around 100 million to the almost 8,000 public libraries. In 2000 around 9,700 libraries issued around 322 million, in 2010 around 8,500 libraries issued around 393 million. In 2012, around 30 of the state's academic libraries in Austria spent around 42 million euros on acquisitions.
Types of acquisition
All publications that a library receives go through the department responsible for the acquisition. A library can get new publications in a number of ways.
- purchase
Buying is by far the most common way of acquiring new publications. These are usually bought from dealers (such as booksellers), sometimes directly from the publisher or editor. As booksellers for libraries, local retail bookstores are just as suitable as - for books from a certain country - specialized import bookstores. Today, however, companies that have specialized in supplying libraries play a bigger role. These library suppliers can also provide information on new international publications if required. At Internet booksellers, purchases are made less frequently due to the demand for prepayment or credit card payments. Larger libraries keep running journals. International magazine agencies are commissioned to procure them and take over communication with the magazine publishers (payment transactions, complaints). Gray literature is ordered either directly from the publisher or from specialist booksellers. Public libraries often order from ekz.bibliotheksservice GmbH , which has an adapted inventory. Books that are no longer available in stores can be bought from second-hand bookshops , whose offer can often be viewed via special Internet portals (such as the Central Directory of Antiquarian Books ).
Due to the legally fixed book prices (for example in Germany and Austria), books may not normally be sold below a price to be set by the publisher. Library discounts are an exception, where the publisher grants permission and the bookseller grants the library self-financed discounts of around 5 to 10%. Another way to shop around 10 to 15% cheaper is to subscribe . The library must pre-order the publication before it is published.
- Deposit copy
In Germany and Austria, the media owner (or manufacturer) of every published (or produced) media work must deliver a certain number of free deposit copies to libraries specified by law (usually national, state, state or regional libraries). This also ensures that the entire media production of a region is collected.
- exchange
No payment transactions are required when exchanging. A library can, for example, exchange fonts with another library if it has exchangeable duplicates or if publications, for example from associations, are made available for font exchange. University publications and especially publications from the library itself are also exchanged.
- Donation
Gifts can come from private individuals, publishers, associations and authors or can be inherited. Since the library also incurs costs from donated publications - e.g. in incoming processing - donations are checked before they are accepted. Donations will be rejected if the publications are already available, do not fit into the library's acquisition profile, are already in poor condition or the donation is linked to undesirable conditions. It also happens that libraries themselves ask for gifts, for example if the work in question is not available in bookshops (for example publications from authorities, companies, institutions or associations).
- Licensing
Some electronic media such as e-books , electronic journals or databases are not sold to the library by the providers. The property rights remain with the provider, the library acquires only one right of use through a license agreement . The terms of the contract are negotiated and can vary widely. This defines whether all registered or unregistered library users have access; whether access is only possible within the library or from anywhere via the Internet; how many users can access at the same time; whether the electronic media can be saved and printed out by users.
Responsible librarians and library departments
Trained librarians are usually responsible for the acquisition . In smaller libraries, one department can be responsible for both acquisitions and cataloging, while in larger libraries there is usually a separate department responsible for acquisitions (often called the "acquisitions department" or "accession department"). In particularly large libraries there are even several departments for purchases, such as a separate "ordering department", a "monograph accession", a "magazine accession", a "exchange and gift office" and possibly also a separate "deposit copy office".
Activities incurred
Different activities are carried out within an acquisition department. At the beginning, a selection from the available publications must be made, then the order of the selected media must be prepared (pre-accession). Third, if the library in question has a corresponding system, the order is cataloged (order cataloging). The order (including access control and any reminders) and administration of the order (order management) then take place. After the publication has been delivered, the receipt processing is carried out (accreditation), followed by the invoice processing.
Selection of publications to be acquired
At the beginning of the acquisition process shall responsible librarian decide which media from the unmanageable flood of worldwide publications (annually more than one million new books) to purchase selected. This decision is not infrequently based on prescribed regulations that already roughly or precisely determine which publications are to be purchased. In some libraries, an acquisition profile regulates in great detail which subject areas, types of literature, forms of publication and languages should be taken into account and how much. The selection does not apply to deposit copies, donations and exchanges of documents; modified, it takes place when library users make purchase suggestions.
The selection can also be partially or completely given to private companies ( outsourcing ). For example, the library can draw up an approval plan in which it presents its precise acquisition profile, and the provider sends the new publications that match the profile. Whole subscriptions can also be selected instead of individual publications , for example for the current bestsellers . As part of the so-called standing order , entire publishing programs or series of publications can be ordered on a permanent basis.
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- Selection criteria
When making the selection, certain criteria must be taken into account, which also determine which publications the respective library should select for acquisition. The most important criteria are the tasks and plans that the respective library should fulfill as well as the expectations of its users, which can be determined, for example, from usage statistics. For different library types , very different criteria often apply, for example for public libraries and for academic libraries or for universal libraries and specialist libraries . Further criteria are the quality, the current importance, the expected future value of the publication to be purchased and the library's budget made available for purchases. In smaller libraries, the head is usually responsible for the selection, in larger libraries there are several librarians.
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- Viewing the publication offer
To select the publications to be purchased, librarians sift through global book production. Since this is too extensive for an overview, it is only viewed in part and using various aids. The most important resource are bibliographies . The result of the screening is a preliminary selection of publications to be purchased.
Only large universal libraries can afford a comprehensive and international viewing; specialist libraries naturally only view their subject area. Public libraries usually do not conduct their own screening, as special selection lists and meeting services are available to them (in Germany, for example, the various meeting services created by the Lektoratskooperation and published by ekz.bibliotheksservice ). These lists and services only suggest publications that are suitable for public libraries.
- Review of considered publications
After or during the viewing of the publication offer, the content of the publications that made it into the preselection is checked. For this purpose, it is usually sufficient to assess the price and the bibliographical data (author, title, publisher, edition, etc.) that can be found in the order documents: is the author known? What topic does the title suggest? Was the book published by a renowned publisher? The assessment based on bibliographic data requires a high degree of experience. In addition to the price and the bibliographical data, reviews , i.e. assessments by experts, can also be used. These appear in special meeting services, review journals, library journals, trade journals, newspapers and on websites of online bookshops. If necessary, a review copy can be ordered from the bookseller with the right to return so that the librarian can examine the work more closely.
In public libraries, viewing and reviewing are also referred to as editing work. In public libraries in large cities, editing can be divided between several employees, each of whom is responsible for one area (e.g. natural sciences, humanities, etc.). In academic libraries, too, the selection is often divided into several specialist units that oversee different areas. At university libraries , lecturers and researchers can influence the selection.
- Purchase decision
The final purchase decision is made either by the librarians who have already performed the screening or review, or by the Acquisition Manager or the library manager. Here it is also decided how many copies of a publication are to be purchased. Multiple copies (“staggered” purchase) are only ordered for publications that are in high demand, mainly from public libraries (where around 20 to 30% of the holdings are multiple copies ) and textbook collections (where up to 50 copies of individual textbooks can be borrowed). Buying meetings can provide advice on purchasing particularly expensive publications.
At public libraries, appraisals and purchase decisions are usually made in the central branch. The opportunities for influence through smaller branches are small in some cases and greater in others.
Pre-accession
If a library has decided to buy a publication, it is routinely checked whether the publication is already available in a different edition, language, etc., whether it has already been ordered and whether it can be expected as an exchange or deposit copy ( duplicate check ). After the duplicate check, the order data must be checked to prevent the wrong publication being ordered or the order data being too imprecise for the bookseller. If necessary, all bibliographical data must be determined (correct author name, ISBN, etc.), ideally in the relevant book trade and publishing house directories.
Order cataloging
Order cataloging can only be carried out by libraries that work with an integrated library system. The ordered publication is included in the library catalog before it arrives. The title can then be found by users, for example in the OPAC, and bears the note “ordered”. Since the publication is not yet available when cataloging the order and an autopsy cannot be performed, the provisional order catalog (short title recording) is usually incomplete, sometimes incorrect and is only expanded to the final catalog (full title recording) after delivery. The data required for the order catalog can - if available - be taken from catalogs of other libraries.
Order
Before submitting the order, the library must select a bookseller and a type of order (single purchase, subscription, inspection copy). In order to facilitate business dealings between libraries and bookshops, a number of “recommendations” have been published, such as the recommendations for business dealings between academic libraries and bookshops . Here it is suggested, for example, which information an order should contain. The order is often processed using special forms that are sent by post or online; However, automated ordering is increasingly being used, in which the order is generated automatically and sent to the retailer in a cross-industry standard format such as EDIFACT . In addition, every order including the expected costs is entered in the order statistics and any supplier and order files.
Order management
The order management takes place after the order and before the delivery, i.e. while the order is "open". Orders are monitored - mostly automatically today - and, if no delivery has been made after the deadline, a complaint is made with a reminder. Secondly, reports from the bookseller can come in during this period, for example that a book is out of print and therefore not available; but also inquiries about whether a book should also be delivered, although the price has been increased. Thirdly, the library can cancel the order ( cancellation ) or change the order (cancellation with a new order) in due time.
Access processing
The activities from the receipt of the order are summarized as access processing or accession. The delivery can be accompanied by an invoice or a delivery note . The information given there must be compared with the actual delivery; if necessary, a complaint is made. The next step is budgetary for public libraries. Each acquisition is inventoried with details of the time and budget used, and is given an access or accession number. If an integrated library system is used, the delivery is next entered in the database, after which the comment “ordered” changes to “in process” or something similar in the OPAC. If no such system is used, the new publications will now be entered in an interim directory. This is done because they can no longer be found in the directory of the ordered and not yet in the catalog and can therefore be ordered again. In Germany, the German library statistics also require that certain information about the new publications (price, type of acquisition, field of science, etc.) be recorded in order to compile the acquisition statistics. In addition, various internal library statistics can be kept, for example on the annual budget already used and still available. Forestry works, periodicals and series do not arrive in one delivery, which is why every volume delivered is booked. This is usually done in a separate so-called continuation certificate.
Invoice processing
If the invoice contains the information required by sales tax law (supplier, invoice number, remuneration according to tax rates, etc.), the correctness of the invoice is checked and the person responsible confirms it with a signature. The invoice then goes to the appropriate department of the library for payment.
Acquisition cooperation
In order to ensure that, if possible, every scientific publication is available in at least one library, the libraries of a state or region coordinate their acquisitions. Via the interlibrary loan then each of these publications is also available through those libraries that are not in possession of publication.
The German Research Foundation developed a special collection area plan for this purpose in 1949 and has been promoting the organization of special collection areas in German libraries ever since . For example, the main focus of the German Central Library for Medicine in Cologne is on all international publications in the field of medicine . Another example of a German acquisition cooperation is the collection of German prints . There is a regional association of 25 major city libraries in North Rhine-Westphalia , for example .
Cooperations for the joint acquisition of licenses for electronic media are a still young type of acquisition cooperation.
Legal framework
The library acquires property with the purchase, exchange and donation types . The relevant civil law provisions, which generally regulate the acquisition of property, must be observed. The legally required submission of deposit copies, however, is a matter of public law .
literature
- Holger Bergmann (Ed.): Acquisitions in German Libraries: People, Addresses, Collection Areas, Software , 8th edition, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 978-3-447-05374-7 , (= library work , vol. 1)
- Kurt Dorfmüller: Inventory of scientific libraries , Klostermann, 1989, ISBN 978-3465018582
- Konrad Umlauf: Collection of Public Libraries , Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 978-3465029267
- Overview representations
- Gisela Ewert, Walther Umstätter : Textbook of the library administration , Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 978-3777297309 , pp. 61-78
- Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker : Basic library knowledge , 8th edition, Saur, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3598117718 , pp. 125-163
- Lexicon entries
- Ursula Rautenberg (Ed.): Reclams Sachlexikon des Buch , 2nd, improved edition, Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-010542-0 , p. 197
- Dietmar Strauch, Margarete Rehm: Lexicon book, library, new media , 2nd, updated and expanded edition, Saur, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3598117572 , p. 166
Web links
- A visual representation of the "Acquisition" business process on the website of the Commission for Organization and Operation of the German Library Institute
- Acquisition Wiki , content-wise supervised by the Acquisition and Collection Development Commission in the German Library Association (dbv)
Footnotes
- ^ University library center of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia : overall evaluation. Reporting year 2012 ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 84 kB) , accessed on October 22, 2013.
- ^ University library center of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia: overall evaluation. Reporting year 2000 ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 55 kB) , accessed on October 22, 2013.
- ^ University library center of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia: overall evaluation. Reporting year 2010 ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 24 kB) , accessed on October 22, 2013.
- ↑ University Library Center of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia: ÖBS 2012 overall evaluation ( memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 21 kB) , accessed on October 22, 2013.
- ^ Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, pp. 138–140.
- ↑ Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, p. 143.
- ^ Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, p. 141.
- ↑ a b Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, pp. 125 and 146.
- ↑ a b Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, p. 125f.
- ↑ Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, pp. 130f. and 157f.
- ↑ Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, pp. 126–128.
- ^ Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, p. 128.
- ^ A b Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, p. 129.
- ^ Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, p. 132.
- ^ Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, pp. 128f.
- ↑ Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, pp. 147f.
- ^ Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, pp. 148f.
- ^ Gerhard Gruber, Margot Wiesner: Recommendation on business dealings between academic libraries and the antiquarian book trade. In: Bibliotheksdienst 4, 1996 ( online on the DDB website ).
- ↑ Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, pp. 149f.
- ↑ Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, pp. 150f.
- ↑ Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, pp. 152–156.
- ↑ Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, p. 156f.
- ↑ Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, pp. 135-138.
- ^ Klaus Gantert, Rupert Hacker: Bibliothekarisches Grundwissen , 2008, p. 138.
