Page 70 - DLIS001_FOUNDATION_OF_LIBRARY_AND_INFORMATION_SCIENCE

Unit 4: Library Cooperation

2. ………………… is a social activity as old as human civilization itself. Notes
3. The most common type of library cooperation involves the concept of …………………..
4. Cooperation is a …………………… effort.
5. Library cooperation is age old and can be traced to 200 B.C. when Alexandria Library
shared its resources with ………………….. Library.

4.2 Types of Library Cooperation

The various libraries in a given community differ in many of their objectives but they share
responsibility for providing the general and specialized information needs of the local citizenry.
The physical proximity of the libraries and the mutual business and social contacts that a
professional group is likely to enjoy in a given community would seem to provide libraries
with the potential for a variety of practical cooperative experiments in the building and use of
library resources. The types of library cooperation are as follows:
1. Cooperative Acquisition: The Cooperative Acquisitions is open to libraries or research
institutions wishing to acquire publications from any of the following countries: Brunei,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Participants receive sets of
publications according to a profile which they define based on predetermined subjects,
languages, and degrees of selectivity and other categories available for selection. Serials
are selected title by title. Participants are billed annually for the estimated cost of
publications, binding, and shipping. In addition, the office charges an indirect and overhead
charge over the estimated cost of materials to be acquired in a year. Participants joining
the program for the first time deposit money with the Library of Congress Disbursing
Office. They deposit an amount estimated to cover the costs of their selected profile for
one year. Profile costs are based on past history of purchases for the program. They do not
represent actual prices of publications known to exist, but are an estimate of the amount
needed to purchase forthcoming or newly identified books in the chosen categories. The
office reports quarterly to participating libraries on the status of their funds for the
acquisition of publications. Fiscal reports include the number of pieces on order and
purchased, amount disbursed and obligated, and the balance in the participant account as
of the date of the report. In the event that the amount billed proves insufficient to cover the
cost of materials, there are two options.

Notes The Library of Congress can submit an additional bill to the participant to cover the
shortfall, or can stop ordering books for the participant depending upon the instructions
of the participant. As a government agency, the Library of Congress is prohibited by law
from extending credit to participants.

Acquisition and ordering systems in libraries cover the selection, ordering and accessioning
of items into the library’s collection. Computers are used:
to send order slips and ‘chasers’ for unacknowledged or overdue orders to the
booksellers
to produce lists of books on order
to keep accounts of money spent

to produce accession lists of recently acquired books.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 65