Automated Acquisitions in ARL Libraries. SPEC Kit 44.

Results from a 1978 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) survey on planning for, and conversion to automated acquisitions systems, and the effects of such systems on library operations and use, organization and staffing, and management information, indicate that 38 of 77 responding libraries had instituted some kind of automated acquisitions. As with circulation systems, most libraries report that automation has helped standardize processes and has resulted in more efficient use of staff, but few libraries report reduced costs for processing as a result of automated acquisitions. The kit comprises: (1) a survey response analysis; (2) planning documents on an integrated approach from Cornell University and for a commercial system from Florida State University; (3) descriptions of system use in a single library from University of South Carolina, a statewide system from Rutgers University, and a commercial system from University of Southern California; and (4) examples of evaluation methods in single libraries from Syracuse University and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, in a multi-library accounting system from University of California at Santa Barbara, and in a statewide system from Notre Dame University. A list of ways whereby automated acquisition systems have met and not met expectations is included in the summary of survey responses. (THC)

Practitioners. ericd

Microfiche. [Washington D.C.]: ERIC Clearinghouse microfiches : positive.