Acquisitions Guidelines for Purchasing Library Books
The importance of the Library in the educational process of the University depends largely on those concerned with building the collection. Responsible selection policies, guided by a sincere desire to provide library patrons with needed research materials to supplement classroom instruction and provide impetus for independent study, will ensure the development of a high-quality selection of library materials in your discipline.
Selection
Because of limited funds, it is very important that only the best and most necessary items be purchased. Titles reviewed favorably in professional journals in your discipline are excellent items to be acquired. Recommended bibliographies might also be consulted. The reference librarians will be happy to assist you in locating special bibliographies which may be helpful for selection purposes. Reviews in Choice and Library Journal are other sources which you may wish to consult.
Ordering Procedure
To ensure that requested items can be ordered as soon as possible after they have been sent to the acquisitions department, please adhere to the following procedure:
- There are several ways to send book requests to the Acquisitions Department. You can use an official requisition form signed by your department chairperson. A supply of requisition forms may be obtained in the acquisitions department. You can also send us e-mail (rappleby@sbu.edu -- Rayola Appleby, Acquisitions Librarian). Or you can send brochures, advertisements, and catalogs listing the item(s) you wish to request.
- Please supply complete bibliographical information, including author, title, copyright date, price, and ISBN number. Should complete bibliographical information be unavailable, please send advertisements with the requisition or cite the source of the information given on the requisition form.
- When possible, check your department on order file (if the department maintains a file) and the FRIAR Online Public Access Catalog before submitting a request to determine whether or not the library already has the title.
- Items needed within a short period of time should be designated RUSH on the request form. Since it takes a minimum of three to four weeks to obtain an item from a domestic publisher or book jobber, titles needed to support course offerings should be submitted to the acquisitions department at least six weeks prior to the time that they will be needed; foreign published titles should be submitted at least three months before date needed.
- If a second copy of an item is desired, please indicate this on the requisition form.
Budgets
The library has been given a budget amount for library books, and apportionment has been made for each department. The department chair is informed of this amount at the beginning of the fiscal year. These funds are used only for the purchase of library materials.
Deadline For Library Orders
The deadline for submitting department book orders is March of the current fiscal year. Any unencumbered funds after this date will be used for library materials at the discretion of the librarians.
Titles Added To The Library Collection
At the end of each month, a list of all titles added to the library collection during the previous month is added to the library's Web site. This list is arranged by classification number, so that you can easily find materials within your subject area(s), and indicates gift titles. To see the New Book List area of the Web site, please click here. Neither the content nor the updating of these lists is the responsibility of the acquisitions department.
New Courses
If a new course is to be offered (or a course that has not been taught for a long period of time), it is recommended that library holdings in the subject area be surveyed far enough in advance to allow time for needed titles to be ordered and processed. If the number of titles to be ordered is large and represents a major portion of the department's library book budget, the department chairperson should consider a request for supplementary funds.
Current Endowments
The library is fortunate to have benefitted from a number of endowments to support its collections and work over the years. Please see our list of current endowments for more information.
Contact Information
Any questions may be directed to Rayola Appleby, Acquisitions Librarian, at (716) 375-2339 or rappleby@sbu.edu. You can also contact Mary Jane Wepasnick at (716) 375-2345 or mjwep@sbu.edu.