Acquisition

      Acquisition is the process of obtaining library materials that were chosen via the selection process. It is an essential step in collection development which must be performed to keep the collections of library and information centers up to date. Another important function of acquisition if for the financial reporting of cost per use of certain library materials, particularly for electronic resources. Finally, acquisition serves as the arm of the library that develops a friendly relationship with suppliers and vendors of library resources, as well as any patrons or others that are willing to donate to the library.

Acquisition is accomplished in 5 general steps, these being:

• Request Processing
• Verification
• Ordering
• Reporting
• Receiving Orders

      The request processing step of acquisition simply involves establishing the need for item. In essence, double checking the work of the selectors. Also a part of this step is establishing that all the ordering information is present, such as details about the book like its ISBN or International Standard Book Number.

      Verification is a simple step if requests stem from collection management staff, as this step just involves verifying if the item exists. If request is not from the staff -- from a patron or one of the library supervisors -- then during verification the acquisitions staff need to check if item is already owned, and resolve duplicate requests or requests for things with standing orders. It is also possible that the request is for a duplicate copy, in which case the acquisitions staff must ensure that there is a need for a duplicate. If the request came from a library users the user must be notified of their request status, and if their request is rejected then they also need to be informed of the reason for this.

The ordering of materials is accomplished through one of 8 different acquisition methods, these being:

• Firm Orders
• Standing Orders
• Approval Plans
• Blanket Orders
• Subscriptions
• Leases
• Gifts
• Exchanges

Firm Orders

Firm orders are usually used for one-time purchases of materials such as print items, DVDs, maps or scores.

Standing Orders

These are an open order for all titles that fit a particular category. These can include series, subject, annual volumes, or publications from professional societies. Standing orders are cost-effective in terms of manpower, however they represent an ongoing commitment to spending and indeterminate amount of money. A publisher is likely unable to reveal how many books will be released from a series within a certain amount of time, thus the library may find difficulties making a budget plan for standing orders -- especially as they may not be paid in advance. Setting aside too much for a possible standing order being fulfilled means missing opportunities for other materials, however setting aside too little means being unable to pay if the standing order is fulfilled.

Approval Plans

An approval plan is when the vendor sends the library items based on a profile that the library fills out. It covers a range of subject areas and is available for both print and electronic titles. The strengths of this acquisition method are that the library may inspect items before committing to purchasing them, that they save on time and manpower (as they involve automatic shipment of items with automatic invoicing), and that the library is able to return titles that are unneeded (unless the items are preprocessed). However, if the acquisition staff are unable to weed out unneeded materials this method results in a high volume of low use items.

      One special type of approval plan is the Demand-Driven Acquisition, (DDA) also known as Patron-Driven Acquisition (PDA). For electronic resources this involves the library patrons having access to a catalog of works that the library doesn't technically own. If the patron is interested in one of the works then they may view it for free for a few minutes, with the time thereafter incurring a small fee. After a number of patrons use the work then is purchased at full price. However, this type of acquisition represents a budgeting challenge similar to standing orders, where the library has little control over how many works their patrons will need. Sometimes control methods require that requests for DDA items must always be accepted by staff, which in turn may cause workflow issues.

      One particular type of PDA is called Evidence-based acquisition. It is an access-to-own where librarians can actually end up spending less than full price on works, but requires that being paid upfront. Once again library patrons are allowed to access a catalog that the library does not technically own. At the end of a set time frame the library buys those that showed high use using the prepaid funds and access to other titles is removed. The budget required for method is easier to predict and to manage than normal PDA methods, especially since it is paid upfront.

Blanket Orders

Blanket orders are an order to buy ever item from a publisher, limited subject area or from a certain country, though for the last two a library profile needs to be developed. The same concern as the standing order is present in blanket orders: It is difficult to set aside a budget for an unknown number of items.
Blanket orders set themselves apart from standing orders in that there are at times a clause allowing the return of materials, but it might be too expensive to do so.

Subscriptions

Subscriptions include any resource that requires an annual payment to retain access to the resource. Libraries can have hundreds upon thousands of subscriptions, and usually hire a subscription agent to manage their subscriptions. When using a subscription agent the library usually denotes some subscriptions to be "'til forbidden," meaning the subscription should be annually 'til the library cancels it. However, subscriptions are only a worthwhile investment if user demand is assured over a long period of time.

Leases

Leases are the primary way the libraries can acquire electronic resources. Under this method the library is able to access the information as long as an annual fee is paid. If the library stops paying the fee it loses all access to both new and old materials, although some suppliers may offer access to materials that were available during the lease period.

      Leases for print items are also available. These are usually only allowed for items that are popular and high demand for short periods of time. Suppliers allow libraries to rent multiple copies for the duration of the high demand period and return unneeded copies afterwards.

Gifts

Gifts are a method of acquisition that come from patrons and other well-meaning people give to the library. Gifts can be a source of out-of-print materials or other gaps in the collection, however they can also be a source of unwanted materials. The section of the collection development policy concerning gifts should guide the acquisitions staff on how to deal with gifts -- it unilaterally not accepting any or conditionally accepting them with the stipulation that any unwanted items need not be added to the collection.

      For libraries that do accept gifts, these may at times come in large volumes. Selectors usually decide on which of these should be added to the collection based on the current state of the collection, and on the processing costs associated with accepting the gift. For certain items that the library may not be able to afford by itself it is common to look for a donor or seek funding. Deciding how to approach donors and gift-givers is an important part of library PR that is a duty of the acquisitions staff.

Exchanges

Unwanted items or new items may be exchanged between libraries. Sometimes these exchange agreements may even be with other libraries from different continents and may be a viable way to bypass trade restrictions between countries.

      The most important part of the ordering step of acquisition is selecting a vendor to order from. General factors to consider when choosing which firm to order from are: their normal stock, their technological capabilities, delivery speed, finances and prospective discounts, and available services. Specific factors to consider are, of course, what type of vendor to order from -- which is usually tied to what type of material is being ordered. There is also the option of going to a jobber, someone who resells books in bulk, instead of a vendor. Whichever choice the acquisitions staff make, the final step is reviewing the legal documents well, as these agreements usually last for long periods. As such, maintaining a good relationship with the vendor is paramount, and that duty falls to the acquisitions staff.

      The reporting and fiscal management element of acquisition are important parts of the work. A large portion of the operating budget of a library goes into acquisitions and collection development, and as such detailed records must be kept to ensure the library's parent organization that everything is above board. Records are also important for future budgeting concerns, as recently library funding has been dropping. It has also been observed that some parent organizations "take back" funds that were meant to be for their libraries. This can cause some tension with vendors and suppliers, however most vendors are accommodating about this.

      The final step in acquisition is the easiest step: acquiring the ordered items. Included in this step is checking that no mistakes were made with the order. After this step the material is sent off to be processed and added to the collection.

      Some challenges that are faced during acquisition are due to it's time sensitive nature. New releases are usually highly in demand for short periods of time, thus they need to be acquired speedily in order to capitalize on the rush. However, doing things quickly may lead to doing them improperly, creating problems with the budget and with the library's relationship with it's suppliers, patrons and parent organization. In general, keeping a good relationship with all these groups is part of the challenges faced by a library's acquisition staff. The acquisitions staff are uniquely situated such that they are library's representatives to its suppliers, the fiscal record keepers of the library's parent organization, and the ones tasked with fulfilling the needs of their patrons.

      In Philippine public libraries the acquisitions staff must keep in mind RA 9184, the Government Procurement Reform Act, which regulates the ways that government funded organizations can procure goods. In particular the general mode of procurement must be public bidding and to directly contract with another organization there are many requirements to be met.