Marty-
I think online forms/slips from vendors represent little/no progress
forward for bibliographers. Having previewed our jobber's and others
e-forms, I see the following problems:
1. Not portable. I can bundle a stack of paper forms/slips into my
briefcase and work them in the car (as a passenger), on the plane, in
meetings, or at the kitchen table after the baby is in bed.
2. Working speed. I can scan the paper forms more quickly than the
e-form. Maybe this is a practiced art and I can be retrained, but other
variables mitigate against this, see below.
3. Coding speed. I can scribble fund codes or go back and change a fund
code on the paper form more rapidly than entering into the e-system.
4. Faculty communication. I can drop the paper form in the campus mail
to a faculty with a note as easily if not more easily than I can cut &
paste the form into an email to a faculty member. The e-advantage is
that I do not send off the original.
5. Decision-making with many data points at one time. I can easily
group the paper forms on my desk or kitchen table into different stacks
by purchasing priorities, questions to look up later, price, etc. This
is essential for how most CD folk work. Books are selected w/in a
greater context and paper slips allow the assembling of that context
right in front of my face. E-forms cannot be sorted like a large deck
of cards; they are by nature serial and linear.
6. Delayed submission. I can easily hold the paper forms, in the
groups from #5 above, for months (until the end of the FY) and then
submit when monies are avaiable.
These are one half-dozen reasons CD people should be skeptical of
e-forms.
There are indeed a few advantages for the forms: speed of communication
between CD and Acq and then to the vendor; no need to handle paper; and
savings in material, postage, and effort by the jobber. But like the
3x5 card there are some applications that are not as elegantly handled
by digital means as a simple slip of paper.
I suspect jobbers will begin charging for paper forms vs. free online
access. This seems to be the tenor of the Blackwell/Academic and B&T/YBP
principals. If the charge is punative or prorata, we will likely tighten
our forms/slip profile to decrease the number of paper slips. This will
work against the serendipity in discovering and ordering and will
decrease our form/slip ordering volume, hurting the jobbers' income.
E-forms deserve a critical look before adopting.
my 2 cts, John
--
John P. Abbott
Coordinator, Collection Development
ASU Libraries
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608-2026
phone: 828-262-2821
fax: 828-262-3001
email: abbottjp_at_appstate.edu
Received on Tue Sep 05 2000 - 12:40:19 EDT