The Acquisitions Column for this issue was written by guest columnists Kristina Mengeling, Acquisitions Librarian, and Mark Bartlett, Head of Technical Services, of Arizona State University, Ross-Blakley Law Library.

The scene: Tempe, Arizona. Arizona State University, Ross-Blakley Law Library, Room 109-A.

The players: The head of technical services (Mark) and the acquisitions librarian (Kris) sit down for their bimonthly Tuesday a.m. meeting.

The time: It's a new year, a good time to both reflect and to look ahead. Your players are three years (Mark) and two years (Kris) into their current positions.

Mark: I think we should go over faculty-request rush orders again. What types of titles are we being asked to order?

Kris: I get a lot of standard, in-print monograph requests. I find those are easy to fill. I also get requests for not-yet-published books, out-of-print books, single issues of law reviews and periodicals, and some other things like government agency reports, conference proceedings, and Indian tribal codes.

Mark: That sounds about right. Do you remember the faculty order question we asked you in the interview?

Kris: Was that the one about expediting faculty requests? I think it was one of those long, hypothetical questions.

Mark: The committee loved that, the hot seat question! I think one part of it was "how fast do you think is reasonable for the library to get in a faculty-requested book?"

Kris: Oh, I remember that. I said "next-day air turnaround time" and your faces all lit up. I figured I'd said something right!

Mark: You did. We asked the same questions of all the interviewees and the answers were all over the place… to say the least. One person said, "Oh, well, maybe 4-6 weeks". BZZZZTTT, WRONG ANSWER!

Kris: When it's an in-print monograph title, it's generally easy to fill using an online web source. I order from them rather than rely on our regular monograph vendors. The turnaround time is usually a matter of days. I can track the order online and sometimes the book lists with a 20-30% discount. The library credit card sure helps to rush these orders.

Mark: I ran a filled faculty rush orders report at the end of the calendar year. It's a good thing we code the Innopac order record with the "R" rush order note! I see you're using either Amazon (www.amazon.com) or Barnes & Noble (www.bn.com) most of the time.

Kris: Amazon is the first place I check when I get a faculty request. When they state "usually ships in 24 hours", that word "usually" is the great disclaimer. I think it means they don't have a copy on the shelf, and it'll take some extra time for them to get a copy and ship it to our library.

Mark: So how is B & N different, then? What are they good for?

Kris: I've found they have the more esoteric, scholarly publications and their website actually states what's in stock at the time. They also have a 1-800 phone number — it's possible to speak to a human there! I've also used Amazon UK (www.amazon.co.uk) for British imprints. It's worked well.

Mark: And what about those not-yet-published books? Are you still getting these as faculty requests?

Kris: Yes. I think the professors are finding titles listed on the web and in publisher catalogs, even though the book hasn't been printed yet! I order these directly from the publisher and then I can monitor the availability there. Most of them have websites up.

Mark: Are you still getting some rush orders for out-of-print titles?

Kris: Yes. I'm using a few different web vendors for these -- Alibris and Abebooks¹ (www.abebooks.com) are the main ones. I've had good results there. Normally I use the library credit card to expedite the order and often I'm in touch with the bookseller directly.

Mark: Okay, I know we've had some trouble with single issue periodical and law review orders. How are we doing these now?

Kris: I think we're getting better at them. It's always been a hard type of order to fill. Remember when we looked at that three-year Innopac report you ran, the order versus receipt/fill date for the single-issue orders? The time ranged from four days to four months.

Mark: Don't remind me – it wasn't very pretty at all!

Kris: That's for sure. The new faculty single-issue order workflow² we finalized this past fall term should improve the situation a lot. I hope we can fill these single issues in two to ten days.

Mark: That sounds good. Refresh my memory…what about that email poll you did with the TS-SIS and LAW-ACQ listservs last term?³ Any useful responses?

Kris: There were sympathetic ears. I liked this response: "Our library is in the same exact situation as you. Our faculty expect the same turnaround with individual periodical issues, as with the monographs... my practice is to call our periodical vendor and see if the issue is in stock. If it is not in stock there, I call the law review directly. Some of the law reviews have been great and sent stuff next day while others never return phone calls."

Mark: It sounds like their practice is what we've started to do. Didn't one of the responders say her library doesn't buy single issues for law faculty, no exceptions?

Kris: Yes, that's right, but we raised the bar here a long time ago and generally give the faculty what they want. That includes single issues of law reviews and periodicals.

Mark: It's part of the overall faculty services the library provides. We only get ten or twenty of these orders a year, but each and every one is important!

Kris: Another person said she uses back-run vendors like Alfred Jaeger (http://www.ajaeger.com/) and she's happy with the turnaround time. Another told me about the non-profit United States Book Exchange (http://www.usbe.com/) and Needs and Offers listserv. I'll take a closer look at these and see if they are useful.

Mark: Sounds good. What are some of the more esoteric and difficult titles you're ordering for faculty?

Kris: I've had other orders for small press European books, agency reports, conference proceedings, and of course, the Indian tribal codes for Arizona. I order all of these directly.

Mark: What types of problems do you have?

Kris: Finding the right person to deal with to fill an order…. often they're not always set up for credit card transactions… some ask for prepayment, and then it takes us up to a week for the ASU check to get in the mail and in the hands of the publisher….and then sometimes the check gets cashed and the order is never filled…

Mark: Ahh, the joys of faculty orders! I guess we can spend some more time on these quirky ones another day. Well, just be thankful you don't have to catalog these titles when they show up, too!

Kris: Fortunately, not my job…

Mark: ... that's for Anne and me to handle. Are you notifying the liaison librarian and the faculty member when you order the rush title? Are you keeping them informed of any problems with the order?

Kris: Yes, when I place an order, I email both the librarian and the faculty member and let them know the expected delivery date. I keep them up-to-date if the web vendor or publisher contacts me with an out-of-stock or order delay message.

Mark: That's good. I'm sure each one requires close attention. It's good we run that outstanding rush order report each Monday morning. The librarians really want professional oversight of these faculty orders. Their service standard is that a faculty request requires a quick turnaround time, no matter who's handling it in the library. We should live by that in technical services as well.

Kris: I guess we should stop dwelling on the type of faculty order it is... let's just treat a faculty rush as a rush! Get it through the door as soon as possible…

Mark: Exactly. Good work. Let's meet again in a couple of weeks.

Endnotes

¹ See Dick Vaughan's article "Customer (e-)service: new kids on the block", Technical Services Law Librarian, v.27 no. 2 (December 2001) for more information on Abebooks.

² See: ASU Law page at: http://www.lawlib.asu.edu/Downloads/edocuments/100099.pdf (Last visited 1/12/03)