Re: CDL: Restrictions on acquisition requests? (response 1)
From:
Dana Hendrix <hendrixd_at_southwestern.edu>
Just following up since I had a request from a list member to share
responses with the list. Other than Clement's response to the whole
list, the only other response was this one:
"This sounds like a bad policy to me. The origin of an acquisition
request, IMO, should not particularly matter, but we should instead ask
whether the book (or whatever format the work is in) serves an
information need for the library's users. Perhaps a visiting professor
knows of a particularly valuable work that the regular faculty does not,
or perhaps a student notices a deficiency in the collection. (This is
not to say that all such requests will be fulfilled, of course---it is
still up to the librarian to decide, based on a number of factors,
whether to acquire the work.)
So in my opinion, such a policy could have a negative impact on the
collection, and furthermore, a negative impact on the morale of
part-time and visiting faculty. A credentialed, competent, hard-working
PT faculty member will not want to be told, "Sorry, we won't even
consider adding your suggestion, because you don't work here
full-time." What kind of opinion does the library, and university more
broadly, convey in that? (And in today's climate, adjunct professors
get a bad enough deal without adding insult to injury.) And no library
wants to be perceived as unresponsive to any of its stakeholders._"_
*Dana Hendrix, M.A.*
Director of Library Resources / Associate Professor
Information Services
Smith Library Center Room 122
Southwestern University
Georgetown, Texas 78626
(512) 863-1241 Office
http://www.southwestern.edu/infoservices/departments/libraryresources/index.php
Received on Thu Aug 29 2013 - 03:01:45 EDT