Chapter 13. Library
Section 13.1. General Operations

13.1.4. Material Acquisition Requests

General Information

Material selection is the joint responsibility of the faculty and the librarians. Requests for acquisition may be originated by departments, individual faculty members, or librarians. Faculty and academic departmental requests must be made through the designated department Library liaison. Other Michigan Tech staff members and librarians may make recommendations directly to the head of Collection Management.

The Acquisitions department of the Library handles all ordering of new materials after the request has been reviewed and approved by the head of Collection Management.

There are three basic types of purchases:

1. One-time purchases - such as books, reports, pamphlets, electronic data sets.



2. Standing order purchases - such as annuals, continuations, electronic databases.



3. Subscription purchases (new and renewals) - such as journals or periodicals.

Policy

Standing order and subscription recommendations are handled by the office of Collection Management with budget oversight resting with the University Librarian. Recommendations for purchases are accepted through departmental liaisons, subject to available funds, collection policy criteria, and approval by the head of Collection Management.

The total annual book budget is established by the University. Each fall the office of Collection Management generates recommended departmental allocations through a formula developed by the University Library Committee. The University Librarian oversees this process and presents any recommendations for changes to the University Library Committee.

Requests originated by faculty and departments are charged against the relevant departmental allocation. Requests originated by librarians, University staff, or by faculty from departments not having a separate book allocation are charged, at the discretion of the head of Collection Management, against the Library allocation.

Procedure

To request a purchase of a book (one-time):

1. Complete a Book Request form, available from the Collection Management department, with as much of the requested information as available.



2. Indicate special handling requests such as:



1. If the publication is to be placed on the reserve shelf immediately on arrival. Be sure to include the academic course number and instructor's name on the request form.



2. If the requestor is to be notified when the publication is available for use. Be sure to include requestor's telephone number.




3. Send the order to the department's library liaison who reviews the request, records any data required by departmental policy, signs the order card, and forwards it to the office of Collection Management.



4. If not represented by a departmental library liaison, send the form to the office of Collection Management for consideration.

NOTE: If the publication is already in the Library, the Request Form is returned to the requestor indicating the call number of the publication or that it is already being ordered on another request.