Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory, Vol. 15, pp. 355-358, 1991 0364~6408/91 $3.00 + .oo Printed in the USA. All rights reserved. Copyright 0 1991 Pergamon Press plc

CHARLESTON CONFERENCE 1990

THE VALUE OF ACQUISITIONS IN THE LIBRARY OF THE FUTURE

JOYCE L. OGBURN*

Order Librarian

Penn State University

Pattee Library

University Park, PA 16802

Concerns about the status of acquisitions tend to focus on the present. Yet acquisitions seems to be reaching a crossroads. On the one hand, acquisitions is growing in prominence in the literature, within ALA, and in the number of conferences. On the other hand, acqui- sitions seems seriously threatened within many library organizations. Even though there are pressing concerns about the present status of acquisitions, perhaps we should be concerned about acquisitions in tomorrow’s library and describe what we can offer to that library. In that context this paper will address three questions: (a) what will that library be like? (b) what can acquisitions offer to it? and (c) how do we convince the profession of the value of acquisi- tions in the library of the future?

THE FUTURE LIBRARY

Let us build a scenario of the future library, perhaps only 10 years from now. In this sce- nario, the library is healthily engaged in acquiring and circulating printed material. Obviously, in 10 years’ time printed books and journals will still constitute a major source of informa- tion and reading pleasure. In addition to print, libraries will be heavily invested in electronic technologies in order to provide basic bibliographic information to their users. This will be accomplished by mounting databases on the library’s computer, offering access to other li- brary catalogs through networks, building transparent interfaces from their catalog to oth- ers, and providing downloading capabilities. To facilitate research, the library will subscribe to electronic journals and acquire full text resources, and library systems will support auto- matic request functions for obtaining materials at other libraries.

To assist information access, networking of information will expand far beyond OCLC and RLIN. New networks will provide a sharing of nonbibliographic information in record time. Libraries will be hitching on to these networks and participating in unanticipated ways, per-

*Present address: Collection Development Librarian, Yale University, Sterling Memorial Library, New Haven. CT 06520.

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haps for requesting interlibrary loans, advertising jobs, listing recent acquisitions by subject, or running automated comparisons of holdings.

Resources themselves will take new forms. Electronic resources may be developed that will circumvent piracy and illegal use by erasing themselves after so much time or after a certain number or types of uses. They will, in effect, weed themselves from the collection because of unfair use or obsolescence. Resources of this sort may be considered a temporary acquisition, which will need replacement or updating. Although the availability of electronic resources will increase in libraries, the strength of tomorrow’s library will not be embodied in its holdings, but in its services. It will matter less whether the library owns the material to which it provides access. In a world where the price of materials prohibits building the kinds of collections owned by a Yale or Harvard, most libraries will emphasize other contributions and measure their strength in terms of service rather than collection size.

If this sounds like the idea of resource sharing, perhaps it is, but not so much as a sharing of collections, but rather as a sharing of more extensive information about those collections. We may live to see resource sharing as a plan for building certain collection strengths, but this will not develop as fast as the revolution in electronic access to information. As services grow in importance, libraries will renew their emphasis on identifying their constituents. They will include not only traditional groups, like students, faculty, and the public, but also adminis- trators of the organization, businesses, and other libraries. To be comprehensive, libraries should embrace any group, such as publishers, vendors, and library networks, that has a stake in the services the library provides.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF ACQUISITIONS TO THE FUTURE LIBRARY

Clearly, the traditional role of acquisitions to acquire materials will still be valid in the fu- ture library. Books and journals are not going to disappear, many libraries still will not be heavily invested in electronic resources, and materials from many countries will be published only in print format. Future library services and resources will bring change to the nature of acquisitions functions and processes. In addition to traditional services, acquisitions will of- fer other valuable services in this library of the future. As the methods of access and purchase become more diversified, acquisitions must determine the best method of getting information into the hands of the user, either through purchasing, licensing, or document delivery.

Traditional acquisitions methods will be extended to encompass new kinds of resources. Ap- proval plans will include electronic resources, as some memberships and standing orders al- ready do. We can currently list our out of print wants electronically, and it is possible to offer our exchange lists and withdrawals over BITNET. Electronic information challenges our un- derstanding of what constitutes publishing. The publishing of electronic information may not follow publishing norms for numbering, such as volume, issue, or date, nor have a recogniz- able title or imprint. If so, acquisitions may have to redesign its records management system, including its order records, claiming system, check-in records, and the like. Yet, electronic technology provides the best means for controlling records.

Acquisitions’ partner in the electronic revolution should still be the materials vendor. Librar- ians and vendors have been working with the producers of information in discussing how in- formation is published and at what terms. In the future library, acquisitions may ask vendors to supply more types of materials and to function more strongly as an intermediary between the library and the producer. We may even ask that more or different information be included in the vendors’ online inventory records. Acquisitions and vendors may need to collaborate

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in developing new information management systems that better support acquiring electronic resources.

MAKING THE CASE FOR ACQUISITIONS

This paper has explored the library of the future and the role acquisitions can and should play. In making a case to the profession for the continued existence of the acquisitions depart- ment, the most compelling reason to present is that only an acquisitions department can have full accountability for the scrupulous and effective acquiring of library materials. This respon- sibility cannot be decentralized or dispersed. Accountability works in two directions: 1) man- aging money, services, and resources within the organization; and 2) conducting business arrangements with outside suppliers. If the functions of acquisitions are dispersed, then no one department can answer for the unethical, inefficient, and ineffective acquisition of re- sources. In the future, accountability will be even more critical. As resources will be published in many forms, avenues, and prices, someone must manage all the business arrangements, license agreements, contracts, claims, and timely payments with many different suppliers. The avenues of supply must be analyzed, studied, and negotiated in terms of service, fair business practices, cost, effective delivery, and quality of product.

But what if we find that vendors cannot provide the services and products that we ask for, and at a price that we can pay? We may be forced into bidding, as some libraries already have, looking for the best deal or dropping vendors. We may even bypass vendors altogether and order directly from the producer, taking over all the claiming and follow-up normally per- formed by a vendor. Certainly acquisitions can best judge where the balance point lies between price and service. If acquisitions is decentralized, or if people outside of acquisitions are mak- ing supplier decisions, our current relationships with vendors will be jeopardized. The library may not be able to live up to promises of a certain amount of business, or a good order mix, or other special arrangements, if indeed it can make these promises at all. The vendor will have no partner in determining how to provide the best service to libraries.

The current crisis in serials prices is a case in point, causing libraries to analyze present busi- ness arrangements, negotiate better discounts, agonize over service charges, and push for more funding. Often, instead of jeopardizing the acquisitions budget, we must choose to expend staff time and salaries in searching for the best deal and in switching back and forth between suppliers. In this scenario we risk sacrificing staff morale, losing overworked staff, and alienat- ing our vendors. One reason acquisitions exists is to manage the competition between the ma- terials budget and personnel resources.

The task is set out before us; we must convince our profession of the reasons for maintain- ing an acquisitions department. Defining our approach is critical to success. We may take the approach of getting acquisitions into the formal library school curriculum. Library schools have yet to recognize how modern acquisitions librarians function in the profession. The pro- vision for formal education would validate acquisitions as a segment of librarianship and would serve as an essential recruitment tool. We can accomplish this goal by working directly with educators and speaking to them in their terms about the purpose of education, the aims of the library school, and the needs of the profession, and frankly, what they will gain by teaching acquisitions. Educators are faced with tight budgets, competing demands for more courses in the curriculum, and little evidence of an expanded curriculum producing rewards for them or their graduates. Persuading educators to our view will take a long time.

We must frame our arguments for education in acquisitions around its value to all librar-

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ians, not librarians desiring to specialize in acquisitions. Educators are generally more con- cerned with giving students a broad overview of librarianship than in preparing them for a certain segment of the profession. To help our case, we should develop a model syllabus that shows the strength of acquisitions as an autonomous course, emphasizing the professional aspects of acquisitions, not just order work. In the short term, we should be developing in- ternship programs in acquisitions, for the student and new professional. This approach will help attain both the education and the recruitment goals.

Within the profession we must demonstrate the value of centralizing acquisitions functions. In an organization as complex as a library, responsibilities should be clearly assigned to achieve maximum accountability. Reference is accountable for information services, collection man- agement for the condition and status of the collection, and collection development for building resources. Acquisitions holds accountability for acquiring resources. We may convince the ad- ministrators by gathering evidence about the success or failure of acquisitions programs un- der different organizations. A definition or model of effective acquisitions would have to be developed and tested. Interpreting and communicating the results would be essential to the health and status of acquisitions.

The bottom line is this: Someone must make acquisitions decisions, manage the changes the future will bring, and take accountability for an effective acquisitions program. It is up to us to take our vision of acquisitions to our profession and fight for its acceptance.