Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2001 21:51:33 -0500
From: Mary O'Dea <snyderme_at_attbi.com>
Subject: Question re. Local & Family History Materials...
Hello List,
At The Newberry I have a recurring issue, for the most part with local &
family history materials. If anyone knows of a library science Website that
might answer my questions, I would be happy to receive the link.
A significant percentage of the time, orders for local & family history
items will be filled without the inclusion of an invoice. When this
happens, I write a letter requesting an invoice, and stating what
information it would be nice to have included (i.e. shipping charges). Only
after an item has been paid for will it be accessioned and added to the
collection. (I imagine this is common.)
What I would like to know is, do other libraries consider an item to be a
gift after n number of attempts to contact the supplier? If so, how many
letters do you write, and how long do you wait for an invoice to arrive,
prior to considering an item to be a gift? Does anyone ever search the
obits to see if a supplier has passed away? (I am only half kidding about
this. I've heard of such cases.)
At present I have some items on my 'problems' shelf dating from two
acquisitions librarians ago (at least 3 years), and whose suppliers have
been sent invoice requests at least twice. At this point I don't think that
invoices for those items are likely to show up in tomorrow's mail. I don't
know how best to resolve these incomplete transactions, but would like to do
so before they become rare materials.
Ideas?
Thank you!
Mary O'Dea
Acquisitions Librarian
The Newberry Library
60 W. Walton St.
Chicago IL 60610
www.newberry.org
**not writing from work**
Received on Thu Dec 20 2001 - 13:04:00 EST