ACQNET: RE- Acquisitions costs ( 3 responses)

Date: Mon, 09 Jul 2007 09:57:11 -0400
From: Hults, Patricia (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) <HULTSP_at_rpi.edu>
Subject: RE- Acquisitions costs

I am also looking for this information.  A good background article is
"Insuring the Academic Library Collection" by Susan A. Cady, _Journal of
Academic Librarianship_, v.25, #3, p211-213, but it's dated May 1999.

Patricia Hults
Coordinator of Technical Services
Rensselaer Research Libraries
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 8th St.
Troy, NY 12180-3590
(518) 276-8358
hultsp_at_rpi.edu

(2)---------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 09 Jul 2007 10:17:26 -0400
From: Marian Dworaczek (U. of Saskatchewan) <Marian.Dworaczek_at_usask.ca>
Subject:  RE- Acquisitions costs

Below are some selected titles on the subject.  For more see:
http://library2.usask.ca/~dworacze/TS.HTM and
http://library2.usask.ca/~dworacze/OUTSOURCING.HTM.  
-----
Epstein, Susan Baerg.  "Streamlining Costs with Technology." Library 
Journal 116, 9 (May 15, 1991): 62, 64.

Fowler, David C. and Janet Arcand.  "Monographs Acquisitions Time and 
Cost Studies: The Next Generation."  Library Resources & Technical 
Services 47, 3 (July 2003): 109-123.

Morris, Dilys E., Pamela Rebarcak and Gordon Rowley.  "Monograph 
Acquisitions: Staffing Costs and the Impact of Automation."  Library 
Resources & Technical Services 40, 4 (October 1996): 301-318.

Morris, Dilys E.  "Staff Time and Costs for Cataloging." Library 
Resources & Technical Services 36, 1 (January 1992):     79-95.

Morris, Dilys E., Collin B. Hobert and Gregory Wool.  "Cataloging Staff 
Costs Revisited."  Library Resources & Technical     Services 44, 2 
(April 2000): 70-83.

Rider, Mary M. and Marsha Hamilton.  "PromptCat Issues for Acquisitions: 
Quality Review, Cost Analysis and Workflow  Implications."  Library 
Acquisitions:Practice & Theory 20, 1 (Spring 1996): 9-21.


Marian Dworaczek, Univ. of Saskatchewan Library


Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 17:56:32 -0400
From: Marsha Hamilton (Ohio State U. ) <hamilton.8_at_osu.edu>
Subject: RE- Acquisitions costs

I would be hesitant to apply per book cost-studies from another library 
to your situation. 
Acquisition procedures vary too widely between libraries.  Accounting 
and reporting requirements
differ so widely between library types (large public, small public, 
privately-funded academic,
publicly-funded academic, government, corporate, etc.) 

Some libraries use lots of approval plans, others don't; some have lots 
of selectors, some have only a few;
some allow purchasing card use, others don't.  Some require individual 
purchase orders for each title,
others allow large numbers of titles on one purchase order.  Some 
integrate pre-order search, order
placement, receipt, and copy cataloging, others divide it these 
functions into different units, requiring an item to
be handled by many people--which raises the cost.  Some copy catalog 
using local practice, which adds cost--
or use PromptCAT, or outsource shelf-ready processing to a vendor.  
IMHO, acquisitions procedures vary
so much between libraries that per book cost figures are valid only for 
the library in which the study was
performed (or would be valid only for a library that had an almost 
identical organizational structure in technical
services and followed almost identical procedures.)  I know that doesn't 
help.....

Marsha Hamilton
The Ohio State University Libraries
Columbus, Ohio
hamilton.8_at_osu.edu



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