NC DOCKS at Appalachian State University

Ogburn, Joyce

English

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Archived version from NCDOCKS Institutional Repository http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/asu/ Acquiring Minds Want to Know: Acquisitions and New TechnologyBy: Joyce OgburnNo AbstractJoyce Ogburn (1994) "Acquiring Minds Want to Know: Acquisitions and New Technology"  Against The Grain 6(3) pg. 60 Version of Record Available from http://content.lib.utah.eduAcquisitions as a function faces two major challenges. One is the general lack of an automated system that manages complicated acquisitions processes, pro­vides interfaces to vendors, publishers, and institutional financial departments, and gathers significant and useful man­agement data. The second challenge is the ever-increasing pressure to stream­line, become more efficient and produc­tive, and automate routine acquisitions processes.To meet these challenges we need to develop an automated environment more independent of the traditional library ILS. ILS vendors will not be able to keep up with library demands; changes come too slowly and systems are not flexible enough to suit local needs. Imagine a workstation-based environment, with lo­cal control over capturing, loading, cre­ating, and managing records (invoices, bibliographic, pattern data, holdings, sta­tistics) that also provides windowing ac­cess to vendor/publisher databases and other library applications. Imagine an acquisitions process not dependent upon a systems office for tape loads, report generation, running batch programs to print purchase orders, claims, and the like.Some of these capabilities may be available now through some library sys­tems or maybe have been developed by local programming, but generally not enough has been done to support the acquisition process. Although the devel­opment of EDI standards will improve many processes, the workstation envi­ronment offers many opportunities.Some things I’d like to see include:• electronic order requests from pa­trons and selectors• online maintenance of requests andsearch results• use of email for communicationwith patrons, selectors, and ven­dors• online referral to documentationand guides to system use• online vendor profiles to supportchoosing appropriate vendors fororders, monitoring vendor perfor­mance, and matching requests toapproval profiles• simultaneous access to local sys­tems and vendor databases• capability to load into the work­station bibliographic and billing in­formation from vendor supplieddiskettes or barcodes• capability to scan paper-based in­formation into local filesHere is a proposed scenario:The library will provide requesters (patrons or selectors) with an electronic form to allow them to submit their re­quest. Scanning technology will allow staff to take paper requests and scan them into an electronic form. Requests will be stored and queued until searching can occur and the order can be processed.At the pre-order search stage, the sys­tem will keep track of the results of searching various sources. Online ap­proval and blanket orders will be re­viewed to see if the request fits any es­tablished profiles or the staff will com­pare the request with information in a vendor’s database. Online BIP or other databases will be consulted. If an order is to be placed, staff will match the order to the ap­propriate vendor, browsing the online vendor profiles as needed to make a deci­sion. Basic bibliographic records will be captured or cut and pasted from one of many available databases.Orders can be held and reviewed online before printing at the local printer. The selector can be alerted over email that the order was placed.For receipt shipments the vendor will supply invoices and bibliographic records electronically, either through an Internet file, diskettes that can be uploaded, or on barcodes that can be scanned into the local system. A barcode can be attached to the item or on the invoice and can be removed when the item is added to the collection. Traditional paper-based in­formation will be scanned into the sys­tem instead of typed. If there is a ques­tion whether proper billing has taken place, staff will be able to match the receipt against the library vendor file to compare discounts, service charges, etc. with what is expected (as indicated in the online vendor profile).Acquisitions staff will be able to cap­ture local records to resend over email to vendors for claiming, status confirma­tion, or any other purpose. Staff will also be able to capture records from vendor databases to add to the local system. Libraries will share caption pattern data electronically. Vendors will ftp files of financial or other data to the library to input into their spreadsheet programs.In this scenario loads of electronic bibliographic or invoice records will not depend on the systems or computer of­fice schedules. More responsibility and independence is given to acquisitions staff to control the source and input of records into the local system. Staff will have more information online that is rel­evant to acquisitions work, and they will have easy, quick access through their windowing technology.The transition to workstations is not cheap. It takes a big investment in hard­ware, software, printers, networks. It takes an additional investment in train­ing, programming, and documentation. Acquisitions librarians will have to share their developments with each other and will have to cooperate more with the vendors to develop mutually beneficial software, interfaces and databases. But isn’t it about time that we have a system that responds to our needs, can change quickly, and will link with our vendors and with each other? <60 Against the Grain /  June 1994

Acquiring Minds Want To Know Acquisitions And New Technology

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Acquiring Minds Want To Know Acquisitions And New Technology

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