Library Acquisitions: Pracfice & Theory, Vol. 15, pp. 475-419, 1991 Printed in the USA. All rights reserved.

0364~6408/91 $3.00 + .oo Copyright 0 1991 Pergamon Press plc

ALA MID WINTER CONFERENCE 1991

WHY WE NEED ACQUISITIONS IN THE LIBRARY SCIENCE CURRICULUM

JOYCE L. OGBURN

Collection Development Support Librarian

Yale University

Sterling Memorial Library

P.O. Box 1603A, Yale Station

New Haven, CT 06520

Acquisitions professionals are beginning to recognize and discuss the tenuous status that they have within the library profession. There appears to be a shortage of qualified acquisi- tions librarians to fill positions nationwide. Some searches have been reopened several times. Concurrently we are hearing about acquisitions departments disappearing, or acquisitions positions being cut when the incumbents leave. Given this seemingly perilous situation, the time is ripe to start pushing for more educational opportunities for acquisitions in the library schools.

The reasons for library education support this initiative. Library schools serve several pur- poses, among them: (1) providing a common professional knowledge base, (2) recruiting prospective librarians into the profession, (3) conveying appropriate research and analysis methods, and (4) preparing students for a career in librarianship.

These purposes of library schools are critical to the health of the acquisitions profession. This article will address each in turn.

PROVIDING A COMMON PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE BASE

This is clearly the highest priority of library education. The library school should ensure that every new professional shares an accepted and substantiated view of the theory, goals, and principles of the profession. When entering the profession the librarian should have a com- mon basis for interacting with colleagues and contributing to the profession.

Part of this knowledge base is acquisitions, which may be described as the function respon- sible for the delivery of resources into the library’s domain, through ordering, receiving, and budgetary management. No other area of librarianship is accountable for this function. Sadly, this area is universally ignored by library school curricula, depriving students of exposure to this crucial segment of the profession. As Joe Hewitt has noted:

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476 J. L. OGBURN

It is this respect that the lack of coverage of acquisitions in the library school curricula is most detri- mental. It may be unrealistic to expect programs of library education to prepare students to practice a specialization for which there are so few professional positions, yet there is a need for all librarians, at least in research settings, to be generally familiar with the nature and demands of acquisitions work. Almost all librarians must deal with acquisitions as users of a service critical to their own functions, yet few are prepared to interact with acquisitions in an informed way. [I]

For example, ethics are an important component of librarianship. The ethics and practices of the acquisitions librarian are not generally communicated to or known by other librarians. Some librarians are not aware that it is unethical to try to coerce a publisher into a special deal that is clearly outside of the publisher’s established policies. Some even try to return to ven- dors for credit books, received as donations, that happen to duplicate items previously received as firm orders. Conversely, non-acquisitions librarians may not recognize the unethical busi- ness approaches of some suppliers.

To give another example, conflicts can arise between one librarian’s desire to save money in his or her collection development account versus the overall acquisitions and staff budget- ary concerns. Most other librarians don’t understand the cost/benefit relationship of staff time to individual orders. They may not understand that in some cases it is far cheaper for the li- brary to accept duplicates and to dispose of them in some way than it is to process a return. In such cases, acquisitions can be seen as inflexible or unsupportive when it is actually prac- ticing sound fiscal policy.

As Hewitt has noted, at some point most librarians will deal with acquisitions in their ca- reers; in fact it is hard to avoid. Their lack of understanding of the foundations of acquisi- tions is based in the neglect in the curriculum of this significant segment of librarianship.

RECRUITING PROSPECTIVE LIBRARIANS

Recruitment may be an issue not always connected with education, but if one stops to think about it, one must ask, where do new professions come from? What expectations are held for acquisitions positions, and can they be met by entry level librarians who have had no expe- rience or education in acquisitions? Do libraries even advertise for entry level librarians or al- most always ask for experience?

Libraries schools serve a role in recruitment both into the profession and into its various segments. Educational opportunities in acquisitions would give students some basis on which to decide whether they desire to work in acquisitions. Currently, there is no opportunity for that exploration within library science programs.

CONVEYING APPROPRIATE RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS METHODS

Graduate study should provide the student with the means to understand and apply research and decision-making processes. While sharing a need to understand statistics and research techniques, every function of librarianship has its own approach to research, analysis and de- cision making. Acquisitions is no exception. The acquisitions research problem may focus on modes of acquiring materials, perhaps encompassing legal issues as a part of the ordering and receiving function as distinct from collection development or public services concerns over ac- cess and use. Acquisitions librarians analyze workflow for automation, staffing, efficiency, and records management. Their approach to these is different from that of catalogers, who

Acquisitions in the Library Science Curriculum 477

may concentrate on the use or adaptation of the MARC record, whereas acquisitions may fo- cus on the use of BIP information, vendor inventory records, or other sources. An automated acquisitions system is very complex and different from an online catalog. The modes of think- ing and approaches of the acquisitions librarian are not necessarily those of other functional areas generally represented in the library science curriculum.

To cite another example, the survey technique may not be as useful to acquisitions as grounding in managerial and financial, cost/benefit, and systems analysis. A background in statistics is necessary for evaluating vendor performance. In addition to methods of research and analysis, acquisitions librarians must be able to identify their unique statistical and data gathering needs.

PREPARING STUDENTS FOR A CAREER IN LIBRARIANSHIP

Practitioners often perceive that library school should prepare a student for the first job. In actuality the library school should prepare a student for a career. As stated before, deal- ing with acquisitions is part of that career, either as an acquisitions professional or other kind of librarian.

Herb White and Sarah Mort conducted a study, published in Library Quarterly, on “The Accredited Library Education Program as Preparation for Professional Library Work” [2]. In surveying former students, they found that geographic convenience was the main reason for choice of library school, overriding such factors as the quality of the program or the con- tent of the curriculum. In addition, their anticipated career paths tended to change between starting library school and taking their initial jobs. On the basis of their findings, White and Mort argued that library science programs should offer or require an introduction to all func- tions and settings of librarianship. Since students cannot anticipate the kind of job they will seek and obtain after they receive their degree, professional education should prepare them for a career in librarianship. If White and Mot-t’s arguments are acceptable, than education for acquisitions, a function of librarianship, should be supportable in the curriculum.

EDUCATION FOR ACQUISITIONS

Now that the purposes of the library school have been covered, it is time to turn more di- rectly to acquisitions. Karen Schmidt, head of acquisitions at the University of Illinois, wrote her Ph.D. dissertation on “Sources of Training and Professional Development for Academic Acquisitions Librarians” [3]. Schmidt conducted her research with this purpose:

to provide insight into the ways in which acquisitions librarianship is learned; and to give direction and understanding to the work of the acquisitions librarian. In addition, it contributes to a more thorough understanding of the impact of professional development and continuing education on the academic librarian [4].

In sum, Schmidt attempted to determine whether acquisitions librarians gained education in library school, whether formal education was necessary for acquisitions, and whether these factors related to the abilities of acquisitions librarians identified as exceptional.

To make this determination, she surveyed ARL librarians whom she could identify as ac- quisitions practitioners. She queried them on basic information about their experience, age,

478 J. L. OGBURN

and professional education and development. The results of the survey indicate that most ac- quisitions librarians learn their profession on the job or from continuing education, both of which can be characterized as informal. Her conclusions in general were that:

1. education in library schools was not perceived as the most appropriate source for edu- cation in acquisitions;

2. what little education opportunities the curriculum offers should place more emphasis on certain areas of acquisitions; and

3 (I continuing education plays a big role in the, professional development of acquisitions librarians.

It is clear from this study that education for acquisitions has no formal structure and no fo- rum for conveying the professional knowledge base to all librarians.

SUPPORT FOR THE ACQUISITIONS PROFESSION

In examining the problem of education in acquisitions, librarians need to think of the ben- efits to the profession that are not always expressed among the purposes of library schools. Among these are the following:

1. The library school curriculum may be the only place where a professional knowledge base is formally communicated;

2. The library school setting lends itself to form~~ng and stand~di~ng a knowledge base; 3. Formal education lends value to segments of librarianship by highlighting their pro-

fessional aspects; and ultimately 4. Formal education validates the segments of the profession by recognizing their special

knowledge base and contributions to librarianship.

Given the lack of formal education for acquisitions, it is evident that validation of acquisi- tions within the profession has not yet occurred.

THE EDUCATION IMPERATIVE

In arguing for an ~quisitio~ com~nent in the curriculum, pr~titioners must refrain from requesting teaching of operations and practice. The library school curriculum is and should remain theoretical and intellectual in content. The place of the library school as a professional school within a university setting demands that it be so.

Therefore, acquisitions librarianship must be sold to the profession and the schools on the basis of its theory, its special knowledge base, its unique research perspective, and the value to the profession as a whole of having acquisitions in the curriculum. Acquisitions cannot be presented as just one more course the library school cannot afford. A case must be made that a knowledge of acquisitions is critical to all librarians.

First, this article noted that acquisitions was perceived as undervalued in the profession and as relatively invisible to our colleagues. It certainly is less familiar to many library school students than is reference work. If formal education for acquisitions remains unsuppo~ed, efforts are undefined toward recruiting librarians to acquisitions and in fostering an under-

Acquisitions in the Library Science Curriculum 479

standing among library colleagues of what acquisitions librarians do. Acquisitions is the only functional component of librarianship not generally presented in the library school curriculum.

Second, if librarians are committed to education for acquisitions, someone must articulate acquisitions theory, outline its knowledge base, and develop competencies for beginning ac- quisitions librarians. If the practitioners of acquisitions can document that certain knowledge and skills are necessary to a new professional, they are on the road to demonstrating that com- petencies have to be bestowed in the library school.

Last, acquisitions librarians must not accept the argument of educators that all specializa- tions are arguing for and deserving of more time and space in the curriculum. Acquisitions is not just a specialization, it is part of the heart of the library. It is time to promote the es- tablishment of education for acquisitions within the formal setting of the library science curriculum.

REFERENCES

1. Hewitt, Joe A. “On the Nature of Acquisitions,” Library Resources and Technical Services, 33 (1989), 108. 2. White, Herbert S. and Sarah L. Mart. “The Accredited Library Education Program as Preparation for Profes-

sional Library Work,” Library Quarterly, 60 (1990), 187-215. 3. Schmidt, Karen Arlene. Sources of Training and Professional Development for Academic Acquisitions Librar-

ians. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois, 1989. 4. Ibid., p. 5.