Library acquisitions

Library acquisitions is the department of a library responsible for the selection and purchase of materials or resources. The department may select vendors, negotiate consortium pricing, arrange for standing orders, and select individual titles or resources.

Libraries, both physical and digital, usually have four common broad goals that help dictate these responsibilities. These goals are significant to libraries in order to maintain the basic principle of access.

There are generally five steps taken in order to acquire material for a library collection, whether physical or digital.

There are eight types of acquisition methods followed by libraries:

The American Library Association offers Fundamentals of Acquisitions courses throughout the year to provide basic procedures for library acquisitions concepts commonly used for all library formats. <http://www.ala.org/alcts/confevents/upcoming/webcourse/foa/ol_templ>

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