Acquisitions Process

Introduction

The Acquisitions Department of the Irvine Sullivan Ingram Library acquires all materials (except current government documents received on deposit) in all formats and languages. This process includes the ordering, paying, and receiving of the materials (books, journals, microforms, CD-ROMs, videos, musical scores, etc.) and electronic services.

A routine firm order is a title that is ordered and received with no problem. The title received matches the title and edition ordered. The invoice for the title is within an acceptable range of the amount encumbered for the order.

New titles are processed in various ways depending on the funds used for their purchase. Approval books, standing orders, videorecordings, etc. follow different paths during their receipt and processing. Therefore, this web page will describe the path of an ordinary firm order monograph that incurs no problems from its point of selection through the processing procedure.

Requests

The Ingram Library encourages faculty from each department to select titles for additions to the library collection. The Librarians who serve as faculty liaisons are also responsible for selecting purchases for their assigned academic departments to further enhance collection development. This requires the liaisons to remain knowledgeable in the curriculum in their assigned departments.

Selections are made from appropriate journals and catalogs of various vendors by both department faculty and liaisons. The selections may be made online or physical copies sent to the Acquisitions Department for preorder procedures. Requests should contain the title, author, publisher, ISBN, and price, if available.

Order

Staff first verify that we do not own the title requested. New requests are searched for any missing information and whether the title would be a duplicate for the collection. Once all information is complete and no duplication has been verified, the title is placed on order either with a brief record or a downloaded OCLC record. The title appears in the online catalog as on-order.

Claims

Most orders are received within 21-60 days of their receipt by a vendor. If they are not received by the Library in 120 days, a claim is made to the vendor or publisher.

Receiving of Material

Boxes of books are unpacked and contents checked against the invoice or packing slips enclosed. The books are processed as quickly as possible and sent to cataloging. (Usually within 24 hours of receipt.)

Updated G. Smith 8/16/00