"Once we give up our books and rely on CD-ROMs or the Web, we give up our ownership of the information. No longer do we control our access. And there is no going back. What will stop a vendor from removing information from its service? What if third party relationships sour or other economic issues prevail? At what point will the data be archived in less accessible or more expensive formats?" ... "When a book is on the shelf, it is available to anyone who needs it; no publisher will try to tell you that you need one copy per potential user. And when you use a book, you understand instinctively that it does not contain up-to-the-minute information." ~Gitelle Seer
Acquisition work is often seen as "being primarily clerical and flagrantly bureaucratic." ~ Ross Atkinson
"We are asked--as 'responsible professionals'--to be more productive, more efficient, and more cost conscious, all while provide more and more specialized services despite dwindling resources." ~ Pamela Pluh
"The 'ideal' acquisitions librarian will be an individual who can adapt readily to changing circumstances, deal cheerfully and tactfully with complex problems, and find appropriate solutions in a timely manner; a talented, multifaceted individual with exceptional intuitive powers and highly developed organizational skills who can exhibit a sense of humor even under the most stressful situations; a 'super librarian' who satisfies everyone and disappoints no one." ~ Pamela Pluh
"Collection development has in fact become that library (or information service) function which seeks to build collections and to provide access to information in an environment of inadequate resources and negligible control over the means of publication production." ~ Ross Atkinson
"It is the sales reps who teach inexperienced acquisitions librarians the tools of the trade (they don't learn it in library school), take them out to lunch; gossip about other librarians and booksellers; give advance notice of job openings, attend acquisitions programs at ALA and participate actively in discussions, throw parties at their suites at conferences, introduce newcomers to other librarians, and invite clients to dinner at good restaurants and out on the town." ~ Charles Willett
"In a scenario where vendors provide more services and processing, someone must decide what the library needs to have done, how much it will cost, and how to manage the process. One will have to be able to articulate the rationale behind the decisions. ...Someone must always be there to develop the vision of what libraries should be doing and to bring this vision to life." ~Joyce Ogburn
"Libraries with substantial money for book and serial purchases have become very powerful. ... Industry profits are earned from a relatively small number of large accounts. ... Libraries with little to spend (and unlikely to get more) are relatively weak. ... So we have seen the emergence of consortia and other cooperative buying efforts in which the weaker libraries increase their bargaining position by borrowing the power of their stronger cohorts." ~ Gary Shirk
"customers in all sizes and types of libraries attest to the need for more service from agents, not less. Staff cuts and generational changes have resulted in libraries having fewer people to do more work and less on-site expertise than in previous eras. Innumerable inefficiences have sprouted like mushrooms as libraries cope with handling 'traditional print' titles and new, ever-changing e-formats. Staff in acquisitions, collection management and IT all cry out for new services and data feeds from agents." ~ Dena Schoen
The function of purchasing materials for the library collection is called order or acquisition work. Order work is the older phrase, but indicates that the primary function was to place an order for an selected item with a vendor or a publisher. A reminder that selectors or collection developers decide "what" to add to the collection. The acquisitions librarian decides "where" to get it at the best price and with the fastest delivery. Most libraries order from wholesalers. "Acquisitions is the interface between the library and the marketplace."
As more libraries add digital rather than hard copy content, the role of vendors or wholesalers has changed from providing books or periodicals to managing access to digital content. For example, Amazon-like services provide access to cover art, sample content, table of contents, reviews and title notification services. For digital content, libraries expect vendors to handle licensing and digital rights management issues for a variety of publishers. Increasingly, selection and acquisition are web-based. Librarians need to be able to consolidate information from more than one vendor into a single integrated tool. Cornell University Library has done this, including the ability to export bibliographic records and local data in MARC format.
As books are selected in collections rather than individually with subsriptions rather than purchasing, library acquisitions will increasinly follow the periodical rather than the monograph model.
Absolutely essential for anyone involved in library order work is the Appalachian State University acquisitions website. This is the most comprehensive source of relevant, current information on the web. There is also considerable coverage of collection development and management too. Related to the web site, is ACQNET, a discussion list for those interested in acquisitions work. Subscription information is available at the web site.
While purchasing receives some coverage in business education, it has been largely ignored in library and information science education. Historically,the work has been mainly routine and clerical in nature. With the advent of a much greater variety of formats, and the need to lease rather than purchase, acquisitions work has become more complex and much more demanding. Negotiation and the need to seek legal advice, create a need for professional leadership.
Normally, there is only one professional in unit and she serves as department head. Typical responsibilities include:
Besides handling the inevitable snags, the unit head, especially if the department is short-staffed, will also need to pitch in and do a variety of non-professional tasks.
It is difficult for the aspiring acquisitions librarian to secure training in a one professional shop. There is a "Catch 22" aspect to the notion that you need an experienced acquisitions person since there is only one, but that it is difficult to secure on the job training unless you work in an acquisitions unit as a pre-professional.
Typically, acquisition work in the library involves these tasks in three sections--search/order, receiving, and fiscal control
Acquisitions, especially in a research agency, can be demanding and complex. The acquisition librarian is first a manager and trainer as well as someone who handles the most difficult snags. She must also be skilled in financial and contract administration, knowledge of publishing trends, negotiation skills, and knowledge of automation and IT. As the only professional in a shop with several para-professionals, she must be an effective personnel manager.
Most acquisition units purchase on a 10 month year, from June to March. April and May are reserved for catching up in purchases, clearing records, and preparing for the end of the FY and the beginning of a new one.
These are some of the attributes mentioned more frequently in the literature:
Joyce L. Ogburn has developed these principles to guide acquisitions work:
She simplifies these principles to ACQ:
Purchasing is a function that almost always involves a set of policies and procedures set by the parent organization. Although the process of buying a new book or video, for example, are essentially the same from place to place, the details involving forms, approvals and such do vary. The best way to learn about acquisition work would be a practicum in the unit. The next best is to contact the acquisitions people at peer institutions, make an appointment, and visit. Most acquisitions librarians will share their policies and procedures. Some of these are posted on web sites. Many queries/problems can be answered via ACQNET if you are a librarian, especially an academic one.
Purchasing plays an essential role in a process that begins with the selection decision and ends with an item that is intellectually and physically accessible, and is available for use.
The relationship with the selector is crucial. Both need realistic expectations about the needs and wants of the other. In an understanding, cooperative relationship, order work is easier and there are fewer snags. However, the selector must be free to order needed items even if they will present order problems. For example, it is more work to handle a request for an item that requires prepayment or prepayment in a foreign currency. It is unprofessional for the order staff to discourage such orders simply because they require extra effort.
One of the important parts of order work is verification. Staff verify that the requested item is not held in the collection and that the various descriptors or attributes (publisher, title, sub title, author surname, price.......) are correct. Often, this process yields the information needed to catalog, classify, and add subject headings to the work when it arrives. Thus, acquisitions and cataloging units often collaborate on work flow to eliminate duplication of effort and insure prompt passage through technical services.
Increasingly, serials acquisitions, check-in, and claiming are part of acquisitions. If not, acquisitions will need to work with the serials unit to handle series. While serials present several unique problems related to format, it seems more reasonable today to group technical services by function.
In some organizations, the order department and the inter-library services unit also cooperate since document delivery is an alternative to purchase when a needed item is requested. If articles or parts of books, for example, are requested, ILL may be the most appropriate delivery mechanism. This underscores an important point: order does NOT necessarily mean purchase. Acquisitions librarians are responsible for providing prompt, economical delivery of needed materials. They are not just purchasing agents.
While there are several objectives, three are central:
Buying the right item is much easier when developing collections since a unique item is almost always specified. This is quite different than a purchasing agent who is asked to buy ballpoint pens and can consider a fairly wide range of possibilities. The major concern here is to insure that you don't duplicate an item already held. You might have the British edition of the requested item which has a variant title. Or you might have the item as a topical issue of a periodical which is now being released as a separate. The other concern is that users often submit descriptions that are incomplete or contain erroneous information. Since titles are not copyrightable, more than one work may have the same title. The author's first and last name may be transposed or be spelled in error. In some cases, the order department staff may alert the selector to problems with the publisher that cast doubt on the value of the work or the likelihood that it will be published. The user may have requested an older edition when a newer one is available or is forthcoming. Bibliographic verification insures that the right item is found and delivered.
Buy the right quantity is important for general purchasing since you need to avoid stock outs . The selector normally specifies the quantity so this is not important here.
Buy at the right time is also unimportant for most order departments since the selector is responsible for generating the order to meet likely deadlines. For example, the selector and not the order librarian is responsible for generating requests for the income tax books long before the heavy demand period in February, March, and early April. Again, it is the selector's responsibility to anticipate likely demand and generate the request so that material is available when demand hits. However, the order department is responsible for ordering material, "rush" orders for example, in a timely manner. This may mean a special arrangement such as ordering directly from the publisher and paying via a departmental Visa card.
Buy at the right price is important, especially for leased
items that may not have a firm price. Traditionally, order
professionals have been able to secure discounts from list prices
by ordering from vendors and publishers. Such discounts are
shrinking and often different vendors offer similar discounts.
The right price is not always the lowest price. For example, the
low price may also include slow delivery and minimal service.
There are several horror stories of libraries who have placed all
of their periodical orders, for example, with the low bidder and
then discovered that many of the specified titles were not
delivered and that no one answered the 800 number. While there
are several medium and smaller sized vendors, there are only two
large ones so that reduces competition.
Vendors include:
Information agencies typically purchase materials from wholesalers rather than directly from the publisher. Advantages of purchasing from vendors include:
Buy from the right source is intertwined with the price, delivery, and service issues briefly mentioned above. Continuity of supply is also important. There are expenses related to changing suppliers and snags almost always happen. A comfortable relationship with a good supplier (price, delivery, service) can make a substantial difference. However, it is also advisable to evaluate performance and consider alternate suppliers from time to time.
Some variables to consider in looking for the right vendor:
Efficiency is another important objective. Since the order department is a business operation, bills need to be paid promptly. Correspondence should be handled quickly and with a minimum of effort. Files and records should be current, retrievable, and contain needed information. Reports should be accurate, informative, and arrive before deadlines. Patience and attention to detail are important.
There are several organizational approaches. One is by format. For example, serial publications have often been treated in a different unit. Another approach is by publisher. U.S. government information acquisitions is normally done by the government information unit. The key question here is whether ordering for a particular format is troublesome enough to require some sort of specialization or additional training. That specialist could be in a specialist unit, like serials, or could be in the order department. This is similar to cataloging where the music cataloger is a specialist within the cataloging department rather than being in the music library.
Forecasting has been discussed as part of the financial resources unit. Since the order department pays for the materials acquired, it is in a better position to track prices, discounts, and gather information into analytical reports. The acquisitions person should scan the environment for information on:
Since others decide what is to be ordered, the order professional has a secondary responsibility. Still, that is an important role. It is the acquisitions professional who will set up the approval plan and monitor its performance on a day to day basis. The same is true of standing order plans. Without thoughtful evaluation from the order professional, the collection developer will be at a substantial disadvantage.
Inevitably, spending large sums of money (we hope) involves the potential for ethical problems. We have all heard of cases where an inappropriate product was purchased because of "favors." This is unusual in information agencies, but the potential for problems is still there. Obvious, ethical commandments include:
Most larger organizations will have a policy that clearly indicates what behavior is appropriate when dealing with a vendor. The "free" mouse pad is not likely to be a problem, and I would not worry about attending the vendor's wine and cheese party at an ALA conference. Gifts of value are not allowable and suggest malpractice.
Trends vary notably depending on the type of information agency and the nature of the collections. Here are trends that seem to have wide-spread impact.
The continuing substantial inflation in the cost of material purchased by information agencies, especially libraries, results in a situation where we are able to purchase less and less of more and more. Library resources are often inadequate to support continuing operations, especially in larger research libraries.
Price increases, especially for research-oriented periodicals,
is a problem without resolution. Denunciation of for-profit
publishers and requests for changes in the scholarly
communication system have resulted in little change. The
declining value of the dollar adds to the impact of price
increases.
As mentioned above, order work now includes negotiation connected with leased material so that acquisitions involves digital rights management. Digital collections also involve linking services between databases and library collections. With serials cancellations and document delivery services, purchasing also requires acquiring material in smaller pieces (articles instead of subscriptions). Moving borrowing of resources (ILL) into a unit that might be called information resources is one example of broadening scope. The elimination of separate serials units and placing serial acquisitions within acquisitions is another example. The use of bibliographic verification to provide cataloging with records for adaptive cataloging is another.
Outsourcing the order function is often related to some outsourcing of the collection development function. This has been done for years with standing orders and approval plans. Leased book plans for public libraries are another example with a long history. Normally, such outsourcing is based upon a profile thoughtfully crafted by the collection developer. All items matching the profile are then sent to the library to be added to the collection.
Approval plans may include books shipped for review and selection or digital or paper notification slips. Increasingly, the digital notification slips are popular because of the ease of working with them, including distributing them to faculty in academic libraries.
In a cooperative environment where libraries share common vendors, selectors and acquisition staff may see which libraries have selected which items and that may impact local selection decisions.
In some cases, school library media centers and some smaller public libraries, this outsourcing is combined with technical services processing so that the book arrives at the agency in a shelf-ready condition with prepared bibliographic records.
Although there are some exceptions, most information agencies will have automated their order procedures and eliminated manual files and records. The typical automated integrated library system will include an acquisitions module that allows acquisitions work to be done on the desktop. Most bibliographic verification can also be done at the desktop by checking such databases as OCLC's or the Library of Congress or even Amazon.com.
As part of an automated system, acquisition data can be related to circulation data to generate cost per use and other interesting management information.
While probably not an explosion, there are a large number of new items, both in hard copy and in digital formats, now available for purchase or lease. Separate purchases or subscriptions to each item will certainly tax existing acquisition staff.
Increasingly, libraries are selecting and purchasing bundles of items rather than individual titles. For example, the "Books27x7 Subscription Service" provides digital access to more than 700 searchable books and periodicals on technical topics from such publishers as MIT, O'Reilly, Osborne/McGraw-Hill, Que, Sams, Sybex, and Wiley.
Although more heavily used by non-library information agencies and information centers, document delivery services provide an alternative to local ordering. For example, a document delivery agency specializing in Congressional hearings may provide these with a 24 hour turnaround and save hours of work using more traditional approaches. Identifying reliable, cost-effective document delivery services and evaluating their performance can be a challenge. Turn-over among these services has been fairly high in recent years.
There are fewer vendors today than in the past. Even Ingram, probably the largest wholesaler of books, is in some difficulty. Ebsco is the only truly large periodicals vendor. However, the Internet may provide an opportunity for new vendors to emerge as Amazon.com has created competition for the small number of national chain book stores.
The trend away from relatively firm prices is particularly evident in the digital databases that are so popular in libraries today. Negotiation involves not only price, but acceptable use. Is use limited to a single work station? Campus-wide? Can off-campus students access the data base? As hard copy material migrates to digital collections and packages, negotiating skill becomes more important.
Along with the negotiations comes the contract. The sensible order professional will need legal help in evaluating all contracts to see if they are acceptable and meet the requirements of local legal counsel.
The trend is clearly away from buying particular items to leasing value-added packages (services) such as L-N Academic Universe. Increasingly, we are purchasing a service and not a tangible product that remains with us for years. If the service is not renewed, the package is removed. If we cancel a periodical subscription, the back file remains on the shelf. Selecting and buying a service are more complex.
Book vendors provide both the book and the processing necessary to make it shelf-ready. We are purchasing both a product and a service.
Group or cooperative purchasing has long been used to reduce purchasing costs. Larger quantities usually result in lower per item prices. TENN-SHARE, for example, among other things, is a cooperative buying organization for Tennessee academic and public libraries. When a large number of libraries purchase the same item, perhaps a CD-ROM data base, the per library cost is lower than if individually purchased. There is a trend for publicly funded information agencies within a state to participate in a state-wide buying group. Obviously, to be successful the several participants must agree on what to purchase and create specifications that are acceptable to all or a majority of members.
Cooperative purchasing is an established approach to give smaller firms more purchasing power by combining orders. Farmer's co-ops have done this for years. In the last few years, more libraries have joined consortia which then purchases items for members, with databases and periodicals being particularly popular. Consortia may be organized on a local, regional, state, multi-state, or even a national basis. State-wide consortia are especially popular. Consortia vary in the degree to which they are centralized and organized. Some, OhioLINK for example, are centralized and highly organized. Others are decentralized with informal organization.
Vendors like consortia because they expand the market by producing many more eligible customers. Too, once subscribed to a service or buying plan, most libraries are most reluctant to cancel.
Liabilities include staff time and loss of some local control and flexibility over collection development. Many research libraries belong to several consortia and that is an added complication.
One especially interesting approach has been taken by the California State Universities which created a list of desired periodicals and then asked vendors to provide digital access to those titles. It is too early to know how well this will work, but it eliminates one of the major problems with buying a batch of items and that is receiving items that are not locally appropriate. The CSU contract also requires that users have "perpetual" access to articles paid for even if the subscription is canceled in the future.
The Association of Research Libraries looks at principles and some background materials.
Nearly all digital resources require a license agreement that describes how the library and its users may use the leased intellectual content.
A "licensing agreement is a legally binding contract between two parties." It enumerates the conditions of the use of intellectual content and the fees paid for that use. Different licensing metrics will result in different fees. For example, an academic library might pay on the basis of enrollment, a limited number of users per time, or the number of actual users and the time of us. Such agreements may be negotiable or non-negotiable. The parties are the licensor and the licensee. The former owns the intellectual property while the latter becomes an authorized user. There is no standard licensing agreement. The grant clause establishes the rights being given to the library. The obligations clause established what the licensor is obligated to do. The licensee clause establishes what the using agency is obligated to do. The payment clause establishes what will be paid, how, and when. The duration clause indicates how long the contrast will last [be certain that the date the license begins and when service is to begin is clearly stated]. The permitted use clause indicates how the information may be used and exactly who is authorized to use it. Standard clauses deal with such issues as
While often associated with "leasing" digital products or co-op purchasing, contract law has long been involved in purchasing periodicals from vendors, establishing approval and standing order programs, and in having library materials bound.
Fair use and first sale rights do not apply to licensed resources. The library is allowed to do only what the license allows and no more.
Questions that need to be thoughtfully answered:
Pricing and licensing models vary notably from vendor to vendor, library to library, and consortia to consortia. They may be complicated within the consortium because the needs and wants of members may be quite different. This is especially true when different types of libraries belong. Too, overlapping licensing can be a problem when a library belongs to more than one consortia, such as a regional and a state one. The Network Alliance includes larger networks, such as SOLINET, and attempts to rationalize database licensing opportunities. Cost allocation among members may also be a problem--how pays how much for what? Consortia usually have some administrative overhead and that must be paid for.
Publisher specific databases [Elsevier's Science Direct may be the largest] often begin with very attractive initial license fees. However, these fees may increase substantially in later years. Too, these bundles may increase the availability of the more expensive titles while decreasing the funds available for good titles by smaller publishers. Librarians lose the power to develop focused collections when periodicals come in bundles.
Another problem is that disaggregation -- where publishers remove titles from a periodical database and create their own publisher specific database -- is not only confusing to users, but makes life more difficult by increasing the number of licenses to be negotiated and monitored.
As more and more digital products are added to the collection, managing licenses and monitoring product use become difficult. For example, users must be informed about the terms of use for each resource and this should be documented. Vendors may require some monitoring of resource use.
The lack of license standards remains a problem, although prototype licenses have been developed fore-journals. Individual libraries and consortia typically spend considerable time and effort developing model licensing agreements. Desired elements (by the licensee) would typically include:
Note that these may not be attractive to the licensor and that
they may require considerable negotiation.
Paul Pedley suggest that the following are essential
steps:
At the minimum, the license should clearly indicate:
The purchasing process in a typical information agency begins with the selection decision. That decision may be for an individual item (a particular novel) or for a group of items (standing order or approval plan). Firm orders are orders that will be paid for if the desired item is delivered within a reasonable time (9 - 12 months in many research libraries). Traditionally, most of what a library selected resulted in firm orders.
Selections may be made by an information professional or by community members. Requests from community members are reviewed by professionals and may or may not be approved. Approved requests may be sent to the order unit on a day by day basis or they may be batched and sent forward once a week, once a month or whatever.
Selections are send to the purchasing unit using a standard form that captures the data needed for verification and ordering. This form may be on paper or digital. Some purchasing units will accept tear sheets, notes, and print outs in lieu of the form. Items designated "RUSH" will receive special handling.
Although a few agencies limit verification to items with a substantial price or from an unknown publisher, normally all order requests go through a verification process to insure that the item is not in the collection and that all item descriptors are accurate. Items that cannot be verified are usually returned with a request for more information. Items with a substantial price tag or requests for subscriptions usually require an additional approval step.
After verification, items not held and available are ordered using a purchase order (PO). When the PO is created, the appropriate fund is encumbered with the estimated purchase price. Normally, there are guidelines to indicate where the order should be placed. If not, some one will need to decide which source to use. The purchase order is sent to the publisher or a vendor, usually be e-mail.
Orders not received or acknowledged within a set time, will be claimed. In some situations, a negative response to a claim will result in cancellation of the order.
As orders are received, the item received is compared to the PO to insure that all is well. The item may be inspected to verify condition. Inappropriate items or those that are not in good order will be returned for credit or replacement. The PO and invoice accompanying the item are validated and sent forward for payment. Fill rate statistics should be kept as well as information on the discounts received. Payment is normally done outside the information agency. Obviously, it is important to have good relationships with the people who approve and cut the checks.
Traditionally, items were purchased on a one by one basis (the firm order) or in batches.
The best known batch order method is the standing or blanket order. This could be for all the works of a publisher (all University of Tennessee Press books) or all the works in a certain category or series. Approval plans represent a variant of the standing order. The difference is that a profile is created to filter newly issued books from a wide variety of publishers and a variety of subjects. A small number of these items, usually five to eight percent, may be returned. For non-returnable or low discount books, the approval plan may provide slips or forms instead of the book. Selections are then made on a firm order basis.
Subscriptions represent another traditional method of acquiring material. In some respects, they resemble the standing order in that material is sent to the collection automatically. Subscriptions represent an act of faith since the order professional must pay for items and hope that they will arrive. That is not always the case. With firm orders, payment is not generated until the requested item is in hand and is evaluated.
For research institutions, membership may be the only way to acquire certain items. As an institutional member, the agency receives serial publications, and (sometimes) reduced prices on other items. Membership might be considered a variant of the subscription. I have known collection development and order professionals who were "members" of hundreds of professional and academic societies.
Leases are contracts to purchase use of an item or a collection for a limited period of time. Often, leases involve negotiation and legal review and that makes them unique. There is a notable trend toward leasing digital collections of items rather than purchasing single hard copy items.
Gifts can be an important way to acquire needed material, especially material that is rare or unusual. Most information agencies will receive gifts from time to time. Many gifts are not appropriate and some times gifts will be accompanied with requests for special treatment for the donated items or documentation for tax reduction purposes. Since legal issues are involved and the IRS is quite strict with gifts, proper policies and procedures are essential. Some large information agencies will have a professional assigned to gift solicitation. Many public and church libraries have had success with memorial book programs.
Exchanges are arrangements between institutions so that equivalent publications are sent to each other without payment of fees. They are essentially a form of bartering. I will send you my research bulletin if you send me yours. Exchange relationships are more often in scientific and technical agencies, especially those that acquire material from abroad. The relationship begins with no or low cost exchangeable products and a desired item produced by a similar agency elsewhere. Keeping up with the exchange and insuring that the arrangement is equitable may require some time and effort.
Money to purchase material typically comes from:
For many years, order professionals have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of ordering through an agent or vendor versus ordering direct. The direct order may result in a better price and quicker delivery. The vendor order simplifies paper work since many items from many publishers may be ordered with one request and there is only one contact point. Vendor discounts are often lower than those given by a publisher. Vendor service, however, is often better. Unless only a few items are ordered, it is more cost-effect to place orders through an agent. Selecting and evaluating an agent takes some time and thought. Working with your peers is most helpful.
Begin by identifying peer order professionals in similar information agencies. An informal survey should yield a list of vendors who have experience and provide satisfactory service. Create specifications for the particular services that you need and have those critiqued in-house and by thoughtful peers elsewhere. Letterhead queries should result in considerable information about the vendor services and a sales representative should call.
After evaluating the materials, the comments by colleagues, and the sales representative's meeting, you should be able to list assets and liabilities associated with each vendor. Visiting the vendor, touring facilities, and more in-depth meeting with staff is usually helpful. When your list is reduced to a few finalists, you will ask for and check references.
When the vendor is selected (sometimes two are selected so performance can be compared), specifications will be captured in a contract that will need legal review. Ideally, this would be a comfortable partnership with realistic expectations and good professional relationships on both sides. In some cases, competitive bidding may be required to select the vendor. Often, this results in automatically awarding the contract to the low bidder and this may create poor service and difficult relationships. In such a situation, specifications become very important and penalties for poor service may need to be written into the contract.
Vendor performance must be monitored to insure that contract specifications are met. Sometimes, the order professionals ignore this responsibility, especially if a comfortable relationship has been established and existed for several years. It is important to be able to demonstrate (based upon evidence) that the current vendor provides good service and competitive prices. Statistics should be available on fulfillment rate , discount rate , and mean delivery time . Comment on service aspects should also be captured.
Maintaining a partnership with a vendor requires some effort and understanding. Some in the literature have compared this to a courtship. Be pleasant, assume that the vendor means well, and contact your vendor as soon as possible when a problem arises.
The vendor relationship should not be zero-sum. Ideally, we would partner with the vendor to provide our users with what they need when they need it. Reliability, responsiveness, and competence are normally more important than small savings in cost that result in frequent vendor changes. Building an effective relationship takes effort, time, and patience.
Problems will vary from vendor to vendor and situations often differ. Still, the major problem today is probably the service charge. Vendors live on the discount between the list price and the sales price. Low or no discounts force the vendor to either refuse to stock an item or to charge a fee. This means that you might have to pay more than list price for an item. Fees may also be charged for providing management information and other services. There is a trend to charge for value-added services of all kinds. Some vendors offer a standard package at lower cost. Individualized services almost always cost more. Ideally, the original contract would specify the kind and amount of service required.
Vendors will not stock all of the items that you need. However, if the stock is not adequate for most of your needs, you will need to find another vendor. Low or no discount items, especially those issued by non-profit organizations, and items published abroad are not likely to be stocked. Today, items go out of print quickly so that an item issued early in the year may be out of stock or out of print later in the year. Few vendors will stock government publications unless that is their specialty. Their are specialty vendors for foreign items, subjects like law, medicine, and engineering, formats like audio books, and for out of print items. Order professionals need to be familiar with these vendors. Often, a plea for help on ACQNET will be met with names and addresses of good specialty vendors.
Traditionally, negotiations began with the buyer who took the initiative to optimize his position by not merely accepting the stated price. The goal in negotiation is to purchase:
Negotiation works well when:
Successful negotiation is built upon a clear, compelling understanding of the agency's needs:
Successful negotiation requires a thoughtfully crafted plan that answers these questions:
Successful negotiation requires that you understand the needs of the vendor:
The actual negotiating is an art that depends notably upon personal skill, manner, and style. Listening and watching is a important as persuasive speaking. Good negotiators are clear, rapid thinkers. They can analyze well and quickly. Poise, calm, and patience are notable attributes. You must know the products, costs, and the market, including what your peers have done. In contrast with mass-media portrayals, judgment, tact, and diplomacy are more important than bluster. Effective negotiation reconciles differences and finds satisfactory middle ground. There will be times when it is necessary to be firm and times when it will be appropriate to yield.
In evaluating success in purchasing material to be added to collections, we use the usual criteria. Is the process efficient? Are materials ordered as quickly as possible and received as quickly as possible? Are materials purchased at the lowest price available. Are there few or no errors in ordering? Positive responses to these questions should identify an efficient, effective process.
Characterize and discuss experiences that you have had with the purchasing department as an employee of an organization.
Which of the trends mentioned above, or others that you are aware of, are most likely to change the way that purchasing material to add to collections is done?
Discuss the assets and liabilities of outsourcing your selection and purchasing via standing orders or profile construction and the use of a vendor.
Discuss the assets and liabilities of buying from a vendor rather than a publisher. When should you buy from a vendor?
Consider and discuss your ability to be an effective negotiator. What sort of preparation, if any, would be needed for you to perform effectively in this role?
Last major revision: January, 2005