2018 Charleston Library Conference

A monograph/firm order manager, an e-resources expert and a technology infrastructure specialist walked into a break room… No great jokes were born that day, but a survey was. These three acquisitions employees at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign sat down to figure out, “How much do bibliographers actually know and understand about our work?”

Acquisitions staff in libraries pride themselves on serving as a key intersection point between bibliographers, vendors and publishers, business office staff, and library service constituencies. Communication is critical, and in theory, all parties understand the need for clarity and mutual understanding. In practice, however, acquisitions staff often respond to bibliographer inquiries with language steeped in assumptions about terminology and consequent ramifications. Sometimes these assumptions lead to miscommunication and disappointment.

As libraries continue to grapple with the need to craft effective strategies across print and electronic ownership purchases, demand-driven and evidence-based models, and leased/subscription models, it is more imperative than ever that bibliographers understand nuances of these overlapping approaches. Impacts include access and long-term availability, as well as implications for budget planning and projections. Bibliographers, in turn, field questions from researchers, for example, when access to a given resource disappears.

This poster session will articulate the process of developing a survey to assess and evaluate what bibliographers understand about acquisitions processes. The poster will outline the key issues identified by acquisitions staff in developing the survey and the implications for bibliographer understanding, and contextualize these against the existing trends in acquisitions and collection development as governed by the current market purchase models for library resources.