Acquisitions in Health Sciences Libraries: Current Practice in Health Sciences Librarianship

The first resource to offer a comprehensive overview of acquisitions processes in health sciences libraries, this volume addresses the basic ordering and receiving functions common to all types of libraries, as well as the unique challenges of acquisitions work in the demanding health sciences environment. Individual chapters cover monograph acquisitions, serials acquisitions, post-acquisition serials control activities such as binding and maintenance of holding records, and acquisition of audiovisual and digital media. The book describes both manual and automated methods, but emphasis is placed on the growing functionality and affordability of automated systems even for smaller libraries.

The focus throughout is on the practical day-to-day work of the acquisitions process, but attention is also devoted to the theoretical problem of redefining the acquisitions function in relation to other professional areas such as collection development and cataloging, and to the changing role of libraries in the digital environment. The book highlights the need for acquisitions librarians to embrace the world of digital information in all its technical complexity if they are to retain a useful and vital role in the library of the twenty-first century.