From Warehouse to Our House: Part 2

How items are added to the Dick Smith Library Collection
Part 2 - Acquisitions - Ordering Items

Last week’s post was about selection of items the library acquires through the Blackwell approval plan, CHOICE cards and departmental budgets, and other specialty materials through Baker and Taylor and other vendors. Purchase orders are issued to encumber the funds for these items and provide the state authority to purchase them. We receive discounts thanks to agreements the state, the Texas A&M University System, and Tarleton have negotiated with various vendors.

Approval plan books that we keep are charged against the approval plan budget. The budget is allocated with 40% spent in the fall semester, 40% in the spring, and 20% in the summer. Departments must spend the money in their budgets by Spring Break. That’s also the deadline for most specialty materials. Acquisitions Assistant Kay Wiley, along with Administrative Services Coordinator Linda Land, are responsible for this tracking.

In all cases (approval plan, departmental budget orders, or specialty materials), Acquisitions Librarian Jodee Tennyson creates an order record in Workflows, our integrated library system (the software that drives our circulation and catalog systems). This allows all staff to know that an item has been ordered, and creates a tracking mechanism for it, as well as simplifying cataloging (part 4!) down the line. The bibliographic information for the item is pulled from the Library of Congress and into Workflows.

Books and other materials are also obtained through donations. The library will accept donations of materials in good condition, with the understanding that we are not obligated to include them in our collections. Items that are not added to the collection are generally given to the Friends of the Dick Smith Library, a nonprofit organization that holds a book sale each summer. Profits from the sale are used to fund special programs and purchase items the library needs – including more books and other materials!