Vicki,
At SIUC we also purchase a large amount of monographs from secondary and used sources (mainly from the sources that Don mentions). Guidelines we used were limiting the grades we look at to Like New or New but have purchased VG (VG tends to be very subjective). We also looked at the approval and fill ratings of the 3rd party sellers, never buying from a seller with less than 95% approval rating on Amazon, nor less than 3 stars from ABE and Alibris. Finally, we tried to stay away from megasellers that would typically write an advertisement in the condition field rather than the details of the defects of the book. For example, we usually did not buy from a seller who just wrote “Thousands of satisfied customers!” but rather noted any defects or writing in the book
As for workflow, it does create a bit more paperwork and search time since we do the leg work and don’t rely on jobbers to help us purchase but the savings accrued more than makes it worthwhile. We don’t put a price in the item record unless it is over $200 and like Don, there is no maximum price we have set in stone.
I just wrote an article about purchasing items from secondary and used items with the Preservation Librarian here at Morris Library and found that not only did we save around the same percentage as Don stated, but there was not an extra strain on Preservation due to any additional work they had to do on the used books. It’s called “Buying from Secondary Markets: Acquiring Dollars and Sense” and should be out in TSQ this fall. Sorry for the self plug, but the article has all our guidelines, stats, savings, and conclusions that may help you out in the future. If you’d like I can send you our poster from the poster session we did at ALA last year off list. /end self promotion
If you have any other questions, please feel free to email me. We’ve been doing this for years and find that it doesn’t work for everyone or every order but is a nice supplement to your existing workflow in these tough economic times.
John Ballestro
Acquisitions Librarian
Morris Library
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
jballest_at_lib.siu.edu
618-453-4305
You get what everyone gets...
You get a lifetime.
From: acqnet-l-bounces_at_lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:acqnet-l-bounces_at_lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2010 8:22 AM
To: acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [ACQNET-L] Used Materials
Hi Vicki,
Here at Asbury Seminary we are always trying to buy titles at the cheapest possible price. Because of that we buy lots of used books. Normally we use the Freeware JTacq to accomplish this.
In our workflow, titles that are candidates for acquisition are loaded into JTacq from many different sources; spreadsheets, vendor supplied electronic order records, Choice, FirstSearch, ISBN search, electronic Patron Requests, you name it. Then an electronic search is done of our local database to see if we already have the title or a different edition of the title. Titles we don't want are then deleted and a broadcast search is done of all the vendors we use, which includes retail vendors, Amazon 3rd party, ABEBooks, and ALibris. Based on a vendor record, postage can be added to the offer price so that you are really comparing apples to apples. It is also possible to add costs for international transaction fees, and "hassle factor". Buying used does add to our paperwork, that is why we include an extra hassle factor amount to our used book vendor offers. If our broadcast search comes up empty, we then turn to BookFinder. By using this method, for the 2009/10 budget year we are averaging a 30% to 35% discount rate for all titles purchased.
When making our final vendor offer decision we almost never buy anything without a condition of Very Good or better, unless it is the only copy available. As to a maximum price we will pay, that depends on factors such as the subject matter, whether it is needed for a specific program, title rarity, who requested the title, and if the vendor offer is ridiculously overpriced. We would include the full purchase price of the title in the appropriate item record.
Happy collecting,
Don
Don Butterworth
Faculty Associate / Librarian III
B.L. Fisher Library
Asbury Theological Seminary
don.butterworth_at_asburyseminary.edu
(859) 858-2227
----- Original Message -----
From: acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org
To: acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Friday, June 11, 2010 3:57:05 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [ACQNET-L] Used Materials
Hello –
I was wondering if anyone could share any guidelines you have created for the purchase of used/out of print materials. Do you have specific guidelines for the condition of the material and maximum price you will pay (relative to the item’s original retail price)? Do you put the new purchase price in the item record, so that the patron pays the full cost of acquiring that item (even if it is quite a bit more than the title originally cost when it was in print)? We will be purchasing additional copies to fill holds, so in all cases, there is at least one copy already circulating in the system.
Thank you!
Vicki
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vicki Meehan
Manager, Acquisitions Department
The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
800 Vine St.
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Ph: (513) 369-6980
Fax: (513) 369-3167
vicki.meehan_at_cincinnatilibrary.org
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Received on Thu Jul 01 2010 - 18:02:56 EDT