ACQNET v8n007 (February 23, 1998) URL = http://www.infomotions.com/serials/serials/acqnet/acqnet-v8n007.txt ISSN: 1057-5308 *************** ACQNET, Vol. 8, No. 7, February 23, 1998 ========================================== (1) FROM: S. Renaud SUBJECT: Paperback purchasing plans (6 lines) (2) FROM: M. de Vidas SUBJECT: Acquisitions/vendor ethics (10 lines) (3) FROM: L. Burleigh SUBJECT: New Windows NT user needs help (5 lines) (4) FROM: J. Bixby SUBJECT: Chilton Automotive titles (8 lines) (5) FROM: R. Tiessen SUBJECT: RE: Periodicals as percentage of budget (11 lines) (6) FROM: J. Ridgeway SUBJECT: RE: Periodicals as percentage of budget (11 lines) (7) FROM: R. Jasper/J. Cooke SUBJECT: RE: Periodicals as percentage of budget (7 lines) (8) FROM: I. Nelson SUBJECT: RE: Periodicals as percentage of budget (19 lines) (1)-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 14:57:09 -0500 From: Sylvia Renaud (Thunder Bay Public Library) Subject: Paperback Purchasing Plans I am investigating the viability of subscribing to a purchasing plan for paperbacks. I have literature from McNaughton's Automatic Release Plan, from S&B books, and from Jack the Bookman. Does anyone know of any other plans available? Also, I would be interested in anyone's experiences with a purchasing plan for paperbacks. This message has also been posted to other listservs. Thank you. Sylvia Renaud, Librarian Thunder Bay Public Library (2)----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 14:53:17 -0800 (PST) From: Mireille de Vidas Subject: Acquisition/vendor ethics [Ed. note: This was re-posted from COLLIB-L with the author's permission] I am currently an MLS student and I am trying to obtain some opinions on the ethics involved in the acquisition librarian/vendor relationship, specifically with regards to the acceptance of gifts from vendors whom the library may or may not be patronizing. Is it ethical of the vendors to be influencing purchasing decisions by "wining and dining"? Is it ethical for libraries to accept these gestures? Or, is this no big deal since "everybody does it"? Should there be written policy to guide staff? Or, is it better to leave the situation alone? Any of your thoughts, feelings, or experiences on the issue would be greatly appreciated. Mireille de Vidas DEVIDAS_M@scsu.ctstateu.edu (3)------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 09:07:51 -0700 (PDT) From: Lin Burleigh (St. Mary's College) Subject: New Windows NT user needs help We will soon be converting from a DOS system to Windows NT. I do not have much experience with Windows and would appreciate hearing from those of you who have made the conversion. Currently, we download order records from BIP to Midwest's Acqess program. Please share your experiences. Thank you. Lin Burleigh Acquisitions Asst. St. Mary's College-Library P.O. Box 4290 Fax: (510) 376-6097 Moraga, CA 94575-4290 Telephone: (510) 631-4663 E-mail: burleigh@stmarys-ca.edu (4)------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 20:05:41 -0800 (PST) From: Julie Bixby (Huntington Beach Public Library) Subject: Chilton Automotive titles I hope someone out there knows what happened to the Chilton Automotive Total Car Care books. I have the letter from last August (1997) stating Nichols Publishing bought the Chilton auto books, but our standing order seems to have vanished. I called the phone number on the letter (800) 695-1214 and got Sun Microsystems! I tried calling Chilton, and they connected me to a recording giving the same 800 number. So, does anyone have more current info on Nichols Publishing and how I can contact them? Thank you. Julie Bixby Huntington Beach Public Library Huntington Beach, CA markb@cccd.edu Home Page: http://www.cccd.edu/~markb/julie/ (5)------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 16:06:36 -0800 (PST) From: Rob Tiessen (Bluffton College) Subject: RE: Periodicals as percentage of budget [Ed. note: This is the summary from COLLIB-L on this topic. More responses follow from ACQNET subscribers] I just wanted to thank everyone for their responses. They were very helpful. Just to summarize, most respondents stated that libraries should be serving needs, not necessarily trying to focus on an arbitrary ratio. Several folks helpfully pointed towards "Minter: Academic Library Statistics Norms" as a helpful source for comparison between libraries. And, finally, not only have most materials budgets been thrown out of whack by the high cost of periodicals in the last decade or two, the high cost of electronic databases also needs to be put into the mix. Robert J. Tiessen Acting Library Director/Systems Librarian tiessenr@bluffton.edu Bluffton College (6)--------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 09:31:55 -0700 From: Janine Ridgeway (CSU Northridge) Subject: RE: Periodicals as percentage of budget My answer to your periodicals buying question is: buy only the periodicals that are really needed. As the years go by, periodicals go up in price much faster than most books. You will soon enough be spending 50% of your budget on those same journals that were 30% of your budget several years earlier. In my 30 years at California State University Northridge, we have had to cut journal titles from the collection multiple times in order to keep the book budget at 50% books/50% periodicals. We are now in a position where we have cut out all the "fat" and really have very little left to cancel in future years. A little restraint now will definitely pay off in the future! Janine Ridgeway Acquisitions Manager janine.ridgeway@csun.edu CSU Northridge (7)---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 14:17:10 -0500 (EST) From: Richard Jasper (Emory University) Subject: RE: Periodicals as percentage of budget [I'm forwarding the following on the behalf of Janet Cooke. -- rpj] Our categories are a little different, but this might help: based on last fiscal year's figures, we spent 41% of our materials budget on non-recurring expenditures; 95% in book format, 5% in "other" formats. 2.5% of the budget was spent on binding. The remaining 56.5% of the budget was spent on recurring expenditures; 9% in computer formats, 15% in book format, and 76% in serial format. Janet Cooke Accounting Unit Supervisor, Robert W. Woodruff Library Emory University libjlc@emory.edu (8)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Feb 1998 16:22:48 -0600 (CST) From: Ian C. Nelson (University of Saskatchewan) Subject: RE: Periodicals as a percentage of budget Robert J. Tiessen doesn't state what kind of college his collection serves and whether there is an emphasis on the humanities, the social sciences or the hard sciences, for instance. In general terms, I would say that he is very lucky if he is managing to serve his clientele and still keep his serials:books ratio to 45:55, or even 50:50. Inflation rates for journals in certain disciplines are running away with acquisition funds generally. And much the same can be said, alas, of electronic formats too (at least they give you an advantage in functionality and accessibility, but money is still money). The classic ratio used to be a 60:40 split over all, with considerable variation from discipline to discipline of course. I know that in spite of a series of significant serials cancellation projects the ratio at our university (which does include a number of professional colleges as well as the usual arts and science curriculum) keeps edging towards 80:20. Personally I think that is very dangerous especially if you cannot act quickly when it comes time for subscription renewals/cancellations. We keep trying to get back to a healthier 70:30 ratio in general terms. Disciplines such as Chemistry and Physics in fact are about 92:08! Ian C. Nelson Collection Development tel: 306 966-5981 University of Saskatchewan Libraries FAX: 306 966-6040 Room 103.5 Main Library/Murray Building 3 Campus Drive Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A4 ****** END OF FILE ****** ACQNET, Vol.8, No.7 ****** END OF FILE ******