Page 166 - DLIS003_LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

Unit 9: Acquisition Section

librarian be vigilant enough to observe and request for such publications. To ensure that Notes
he does not miss such announcements, the librarian should write requesting that the name
of his institution be put on the mailing list of these agencies.
Some libraries are designated as Deposit Centres and receive free copies of publications
brought out by Governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Example: Karnataka University Library is a Deposit Centre for U.N. Publications. Under
provisions of the copyright Act or the Delivery of Books and Newspapers (Public Libraries) Act,
1956, some national and state level libraries receive free copies of all publications originating in
India.
(ii) Acquisition through Exchange: Acquisition through exchange is another mechanism by
which Collection Development can take place. Of course, it goes without saying that the
library should have material (like duplicates or publications of its own or of the parent
body) that can be exchanged. The United State Book Exchanges established in 1948 acts as
a pool for participating libraries who want to dispose of their duplicate materials of value
to get in return other materials which they do not possess. Other examples of organizations
facilitating exchange are Medical Library Association, American Association of Law
Libraries, American Theological Library Association and UNESCO’s Library Division. As
a matter of fact, the UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries (when it was existing) used to have a
section listing the materials available on an exchange basis from foreign libraries.

(iii) Acquisition through Purchase: Since the library cannot build its collection purely on the
basis of gifts and exchanges, acquisition by purchase becomes inevitable. But no library
can purchase all relevant documents owing to limitation of financial resources. Therefore,
it becomes necessary to make a judicious selection of all documents considered relevant to
the library before purchasing them. It is here that Ranganathan’s Five Laws of Library
Science and Principles of Book Selection come in handy. It is assumed here that the librarian
has acquired the necessary knowledge and skill to select the best documents for the library
concerned.

In regard to acquisition by purchase, a number of methods are followed by libraries. They
are:
(1) Tender system

(2) Quotation method
(3) Direct ordering with publishers
(4) Standing vendor method
(5) Dealer Library Plan (DLP)
(6) Standing order

(7) Books-on-approval
(8) Open purchases
These are discussed in detail as follows:

(1) Tender System: In the tender system, each list of books selected is sent to a number of
booksellers who are requested to quote their lowest price for each book. The orders
are placed with the bookseller offering the lowest quotation for each book. This is a
rather cumbersome process and involves a lot of paper work and is time-consuming.
As a consequence, the library would be unable to spend the funds within a given

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