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The purpose of this paper is to focus on the history and new developments of the optimization and analysis of acquisitions costs. More specifically, the acquisition cost and time optimization methods studied concern primarily print format books. Though e-books have begun to be developed more and more, the print format books – both scientific books and textbooks – are still very important for university libraries and continue to pour into acquisition activities.

The data used in this paper are based on a review of relevant literature to provide an overview of the different concepts of the budget allocation and cost accounting methods suitable for the optimizing cost and time of the acquisition process. Different methods are described via reviewing example studies.

On the basis of the current study, it can be said that the acquisitions procedure is more labor-intensive than any other library procedure both historically and nowadays. Nonetheless, the routines of acquisitions have been fairly well fixed over the years and constantly have searched for new ways to reduce costs. The most popular methods to control the acquisitions budget have been centralized and cooperative acquisitions, using vendors for acquiring library materials, customer-based acquisitions, and price indexes. New costing methods described, like activity-based costing and time-driven activity-based costing methodologies seem both to be the best tools for understanding acquisitions cost behavior and for refining a cost system for university libraries.

This paper raises a perspective in library acquisitions management that has not been dealt with before. Namely, it explores how the library materials selection moved from intrinsic wisdom of bookish librarians and “just in case” inventory model to “purchase by customer suggestion” model. In addition, how libraries moved from acting on the basis of guesses to examine the cost breakdown of the acquisitions-related activities in a library.

Lists of books in the various languages present another opportunity for co‐operation. To the unfortunate librarian, who is not a linguist the selection of these books becomes a nightmare. The ALA publishing board have tried to meet this need but the lists so soon grow out of date….

The key roles of national libraries in terms of acquisition, retention, preservation and providing access to materials are considered, first of all in terms of printed materials and then in terms of electronic materials. The current situation regarding the legal deposit of electronic materials in selected countries, including the UK, is discussed. The automation history of the National Library of Scotland, founded in 1925 but with a history dating back to the 1680s, is outlined and current initiatives, internal as well as external, towards the development of a hybrid library are described. The importance of collaboration in meeting the challenges is emphasised.

The purpose of this paper is to mainly find out how well is time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) suits for a university library setting in Estonia. For this purpose, all activities related to acquisitions process were identified and recorded in detail, and the cost of all these activities related to acquisition process in Estonian university libraries based on the example of the TDABC method were anlyzed.

The data used in this paper is based on a review of relevant literature to provide an overview of the concept of the different cost accounting methods suitable for the measurement of the acquisition process. Through a case study, conducted among Estonian university libraries, the TDABC approach was used to analyze the acquisition process in university libraries. More specifically, the acquisition process studied concerned print format books, audiovisual documents and sheet music, and covered acquisition processes such as receipt of orders, ordering documents, communication with bookshop (if necessary), receiving documents and communication with the customer.

On the basis of the current study it can be said the TDABC methodology seems to be one of the best tools for understanding cost behavior and for refining a cost system for university libraries. While analyzing the results, it appeared that the difference in time and cost for acquiring a document can be remarkable and concerns both – acquiring foreign documents (documents from other countries) and acquiring domestic documents, and between the university libraries chosen for the current study.

The subject of cost accounting as a performance measurement method is in general an unexplored field in Estonian university libraries. Time guidelines for acquiring the documents were, however, quite common in the 1980s in the USSR, including Estonia. Soviet-wide regulatory documents were issued on all library work processes, but each library could still implement their own rules. In the 1990s, the regulations were consigned to oblivion. Very few cost surveys involving different library activities have been carried out in Estonia and none have been published. Where such studies have been conducted, the results remain for internal use only.

The amount of electronic resources available in academic libraries has greatly increased in the past several years, and a number of writers have commented that electronic resources are replacing acquisitions in other formats. To see how an increase in acquisitions of electronic resources was affecting overall acquisitions, statistics for the libraries of the State University of New York (SUNY) were examined, and a related survey was done of librarians at those institutions. One conclusion was that the amount spent on electronic resources has not continually increased, but in fact decreased in some years. Another conclusion was that although electronic resources are consuming a higher proportion of the overall acquisitions budget, at least in the SUNY system the money is not necessarily coming at the expense of acquisitions in other formats.

The purpose of this paper was to examine the challenges and opportunities the new public procurement legislation has created for academic librarians as regards the acquisition of library materials in academic libraries (university/college libraries) in Malawi.

The study used a multi-method approach. Quantitative data were collected through questionnaires. The questionnaires were sent online to the university/college libraries of seven major accredited public universities in Malawi. After an initial analysis of that data, qualitative data on patterns were obtained through a mailing listserve with all the possible 19 librarians. Responses were analysed and categorised using a thematic approach.

Academic libraries (university/college libraries) are involved in the internal procurement committees. Librarians are represented in internal procurement committees, though their representation differs from one institution to another. All the academic libraries (university/college libraries) either use the centralised or independent procurement methods. As a result, the public university libraries deal with agents as independents. Working as independents has negatively affected the libraries, as materials are procured at different prices and sometimes at higher prices, thereby ignoring the value for money.

In academic libraries, the library consortia have pulled resources towards a basket fund for wide access and cheaper licensing. However, for print library materials, a collaborative procurement process in which the academic libraries identify an agent capable of achieving a supplier list and then purchase directly from the preferred suppliers seems not to have been tried in the most developing countries.

The study suggests that academic libraries (university/college libraries) should emulate the library consortia approach when dealing with agents. The academic libraries should consider collaborative procurement models as a means of procuring library materials.

Since the enactment of the public procurement legislation in Malawi, no research has been documented on the challenges and opportunities the public procurement act and the acquisition of library materials. This research seeks to bridge the literature gap.

The objectives and strategy of the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) or Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in the West African economy are examined, focusing on the disastrous effects on library materials acquisitions. The causes of foreign exchange scarcity and reasons for the poor performance of libraries in acquisitions under the ERP/SAP are explored. A strategy for sustaining acquisitions in austere times is suggested, concluding with a warning against the marginalisation of education and the library service.

Because of recent US economic decline, the impact of budget cuts has been felt in most US economic sectors, including the materials budgets in libraries. Budget cuts or reversions obviously have a negative impact upon the dollars available for purchasing library materials. However, dealing with ambiguity regarding the amount of funds the library has to spend, plus the large number of vendor sources upon which the library must depend, creates a great deal of stress upon effective use of the limited library materials dollars. These uncontrollable factors are further exacerbated by delays in obtaining information regarding available funding. During these times of crises, operational efficiencies in the acquisitions policies, procedures, and methods can all play an important role in stretching scarce dollars, with very tight deadlines, as far as possible. This article outlines some of the operational efficiencies in place in a University Acquisitions Department before the latest crisis hit and the new ones that have been put into place as a result of closer scrutiny of the existing practices.

The purpose of this paper is to look at the nature of funding for collection development activities at Chancellor College Library, University of Malawi, and see how that impacts on the collection development activities of the institution.

A case study methodological approach was used, coupled with a review of the literature, annual financial reports and acquisition statistics.

The results of the study show that funding for collection development activities at Chancellor College Library was inadequate and that inadequacy of funding had seriously affected the library's collection development activities. Due to the prevailing conditions, the library had been forced to rely on donations and exchanges as the principal means of growing its collection.

The study recommends some practical interventions, which, if implemented, could ease the financial difficulties Chancellor College Library faces. The interventions include lobbying for an increase in the materials budget, drawing up proposals for possible funding by both local and international organizations, and the introduction of a library fee to be paid by students.

Research undertakings in the field of collection development in Malawian academic libraries are limited, causing a dearth of literature on the topic. This study is therefore significant in that it will help in some way in filling some of the knowledge gaps that exist in this area.

The diversity of ideas and information is central to the meaning of libraries—we enshrine it, and too frequently that is the word—in our Library Bill of Rights and other documents. This diversity of ideas is more than a passive concept, not just one of defending materials already in our collections, though that is a basic and important role for librarians and one that we are reminded of by Drake, Fairhope, and Kannawha counties. But to support this intellectual freedom we all need to actively promote the widest possible range of opinions, of concepts, of expression. And to do this we need more than the output of Gulf & Western, the Columbia Broadcasting System, Mattel, or Times Mirror. If these names seem unfamiliar in library work to some of you, perhaps you know them through their subsidiaries, Golden Books, Pantheon, and Simon & Schuster.