College and Research Libraries


By A R T H U R P. S W E E T 

Forms in Acquisitions W o r k 
Mr. Sweet is acquisitions librarian, Cornell 

University Library. 

TH E DESIGN and use of forms in library acquisitions work is conditioned by two 
basic factors: 

(1) The interacting characteristics of size, 
organization, policies and methods, peculiar to 
the particular library or library system. For 
example: the organizational plan of the 
library determines, to a certain extent, which 
kinds of record-files are essential and which 
may safely be disregarded—alphabetical 
order-files, chronological order-files, or order-
files arranged by source of supply, orders-
received or accession files, fiscal or "fund" 
files, "in-process" files, etc.; and the types of 
records kept affect, in turn, the number and 
kinds of forms required. Similarly, volume 
of business—a function of size—exerts a con-
siderable influence on the forms problem. 

(2) The nature and frequency of opera-
tions involved in acquisitions routines, in 
general. Thus, the order department of 
every library is faced with certain basic prob-
lems: the solicitation of quotations, order-
placement, order-claiming or "follow-up," 
order-cancellation, the payment or approval 
for payment of invoices, etc. 

The first of these factors makes for diver-
sity, both in kinds of forms employed and in 
design within the same type of form; the 
second criterion, dispassionately considered and 
explored, argues for similarity and standardi-
zation. Since libraries and librarians tend to 
be so rampantly individual, the former, differ-
entiating ingredient has all the best of it, and 
acquisitions forms in American libraries are 
far more remarkable for their, variety than 
for their uniformity. The order itself, for 
instance, may be a- letter-size order-sheet in 
duplicate or triplicate, or it may be the 
3" x 5", multiple-copy, "correlated" order-
slip ; and among any broad collection of 
samples of the latter sort will be found 
variations: (a) in number of parts (from 
three or four to as many as nine), (b) in the 

disposition made of, and the names given to, 
those parts, (c) in the amount and kinds of in-
formation intended to be included on them, 
and the arrangement of that information on 
the slips, (d) in the use of one- or two-color 
printing, and of printing on one or both sides, 
and so on. 

Admitting that part of this great diversity 
is the necessary consequence of institutional 
differences in size, set-up, and services under-
taken, another large part merely reflects the 
librarian's lack of acquaintance with (or in-
difference to?) what other libraries are doing, 
and the absence of any real data as to what 
forms and methods are best, and why. T o 
cite only one of many such needs: Have we 
any facts or figures to show that the use of a 
copy of the multiple-order-slip for "initial 
claiming" is either more or less effective and 
efficient than the use of a separate, specially-
designed, claim form? 

Apart from this not always necessary or 
desirable disengagement, there are other fail-
ings to which the library forms-designer is 
subject. One of these is a conservative re-
sistance to change. The desirability and de-
sign of a form is apt to be carefully considered 
at the time of its initial adoption; and there-
after, nothing less than a change in depart-
ment head (or higher echelon) can achieve 
its elimination, or even modification. An-
other is the tendency towards proliferation 
of sub-species and sub-sub-species. Once a 
form is adopted for the average book order, a 
separate style is developed for serials orders, 
and another variety for ordering material on 
approval, and still another for orders in re-
sponse to quotations received, etc. A third 
failing is that of regarding the form as suit-
able only for the most routine, everyday 
functions. Far too often, the personal letter 
is used for a purpose which might be served 
just as effectively—and much more efficiently 
—by a form. 

It must be true of other research libraries 
—as I know it is of ours—that the demands 
made upon them to handle an ever- and 

396 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



rapidly-increasing volume of business and 
number of services with a much-less-actively 
(at most times, imperceptibly) expanding staff 
create an exceptional pressure to make the 
most effective possible use of forms in stream-
lining and simplifying procedures. T o facili-
tate that more- or most-effective use of forms, 
two desiderata are indicated: First, a periodic 
—at least annual—reexamination of the prob-
lem of forms in any given library, to consider 
which can be consolidated or eliminated, how 
existing forms may desirably be modified, and 
what situations recur with sufficient frequency 
to warrant the introduction of new forms. 
Secondly, the creation of more systematic and 
extensive channels than now exist for the 
dissemination of information between libraries 
as to the practices prevailing in other, similar 
institutions. 

The following comments on three fairly 
broad and common problems, and some forms 
designed to meet them which exemplify what 
may be called the "synthetic trend," are 
offered as a merely suggestive and illustrative 
step in this latter direction. 

I. Claiming, which means, in^its narrow 
sense and common usage, the "follow-up" of 
overdue orders, is a problem recognized by 
every order department, and one for which an 
amazing variety of forms have been developed. 
The more common types are: printed post-
card, with or without pre-addressed reply-
card attached; copy of "correlated" order-slip, 
with provision for vendor's reply on verso; 
printed or mimeographed half- or full-sheet 
form-letter. In part, this variation is due 
to the influence on the form-design problem 
both of the type of order-form used and of the 
claiming policy followed. 

Claiming may be either systematic or selec-
tive: In the former instance, every order 
outstanding for more than a certain length of 
time is automatically claimed at the expira-
tion of that period of grace; in the latter case, 
the onus is placed on the person who is 
waiting for the book—faculty member, de-
partmental librarian, or other "customer"—to 
initiate the follow-up if the item fails to make 
its appearance in due course, and only those 
orders so questioned are claimed. Systematic 
claiming is certainly preferable; but selective 
claiming may be as much as over-all work 
pressures will allow—and, presumably, it 
serves to produce the more urgently required 

items. There can also be a combination of the 
two: selective claiming of the slightly over-
due orders, and systematic claiming of the 
proportionately fewer orders long outstanding. 
Whichever policy is followed, systematic or 
selective, claiming may also be either per-
sistent (repeated) or unique (one time only). 

In libraries, such as those of Chicago and 
Columbia Universities, where the correlated 
order-slip is used and a systematic claiming 
policy is practiced, each set of order-slips in-
cludes its "claim copy" to be used for "first" 
claiming, in addition to the copy "to be 
returned with the book." In the General 
Library of the University of California, where 
I.B.M. cards are used as order-forms, a form 
"frame" is placed around the file copy of the 
order, and a micro-photostat is taken of the 
whole which serves as their claim form. At 
the University of Illinois Library, where a 
combination of McBee "Keysort" card for 
basic record and an order-sheet in triplicate is 
employed, a post-card claim form is used, 
with reply-card attached. 

Apart from the design of the claim-form 
itself, other forms problems arise from these 
differences in follow-up procedures. Where 
the selective claiming expedient is used, it is 
advisable to have some sort of form, both for 
the use of the order-initiator in getting the 
claim proceedings started, and of the acquisi-
tions department in reporting back the action 
actually taken. If persistent claiming is prac-
ticed, there must be some form device for 
regulating and recording the successive action 
taken and the results (if any). At Columbia, 
where a systematic-persistent policy obtains, 
a 34" x 5" "signal" card is used for that pur-
pose: attached to the copy of the correlated 
order form in "Order Processing File," the 

visible edge of the card shows when the 
next round of action is due, and there is pro-
vision on the verso for recording the date of 
each successive claim and the report received 
in reply. 

Although such follow-ups on overdue orders 
represent the largest part of the claims to be 
made, it is a mistake to assume—as most 
libraries seem to do—that they are all there 
is to "claiming." In its broader sense, claim-
ing means: the adjustment of any one in the 
complex of all the "hitches" which may occur, 
and in fact do recur with any degree of fre-
quency, to prevent the prompt and satisfactory 

OCTOBER, 1953 397 -



completion of an order transaction. In this 
sense, at least nine distinct claim situations 
may be identified: 

(1) S h i p m e n t is o v e r d u e a n d u n r e p o r t e d ; 
claim s h i p m e n t or r e p o r t . 

(2) S h i p m e n t h a s been r e c e i v e d , but invoice 
is not w i t h it, a n d does not f o l l o w 
p r o m p t l y ; claim invoice. 

(3) I n v o i c e is r e c e i v e d , but s h i p m e n t does not 
f o l l o w p r o m p t l y ; c l a i m n e w s h i p m e n t , or 
r e q u e s t t r a c e r on first m a i l i n g . 

(4) W r o n g title, or edition, or v o l u m e is sup-
p l i e d ; claim c o r r e c t e d s h i p m e n t , a n d a d -
vise t h a t i n c o r r e c t item is b e i n g r e t u r n e d . 

( 5 ) P a r t i a l a n d incomplete s h i p m e n t is r e -
ceived, w i t h o u t a c c o m p a n y i n g e x p l a n a -
tion ; claim b a l a n c e of o r d e r or r e p o r t . 

(6) D u p l i c a t e s h i p m e n t of a single o r d e r is 
r e c e i v e d ; claim a d j u s t m e n t of v e n d o r ' s 
records, a n d a d v i s e t h a t second s h i p m e n t 
is b e i n g r e t u r n e d . 

(7) D e f e c t i v e copy is r e c e i v e d ; claim p e r f e c t , 
r e p l a c e m e n t copy, a n d a d v i s e t h a t de-
f e c t i v e copy is b e i n g r e t u r n e d . 

(8) E r r o r is m a d e in b i l l i n g ; claim c o r r e c t e d 

invoice, or c r e d i t , or r e p o r t , or a d v i s e t h a t 
d e d u c t i o n is b e i n g m a d e . 

(9) I t e m is s h i p p e d in d i s r e g a r d of o r d e r 
t e r m s or i n s t r u c t i o n s (such a s : r e q u e s t 
f o r r e p o r t - b e f o r e - s h i p m e n t on society, 
series, or r e p r i n t p u b l i c a t i o n s ) ; c l a i m c a n -
cellation of c h a r g e , a n d a d v i s e t h a t item 
is b e i n g r e t u r n e d . 

Insofar as acquisitions librarians have recog-
nized any other than the first of these as a 
form-worthy situation, they have tended to 
make a separate form for each. The syn-
thetic approach would suggest their incorpo-
ration in a single, multiple-purpose, letter-size 
claim form. At Cornell, seven of the above 
nine situations have been provided for in a 
letter form of this sort, reproduced here as 
"Sample # 1 . " This form letter is designed 
for use in a window envelope, and is multi-
lithed in approximately one-thousand-copy 
lots by the card-duplication section of our own 
catalog department. Appearance is good ; 
cost is moderate; work of preparation is re-

"Sample # 1." 

C O R N E L L U N I V E R S I T Y L I B R A R Y 
ITHACA NEW YORK 

ACQUISITION* 

"Sample # 2. 

Bool Orje, Division 
Seriali Arfmitmit I)it 
Ciift & Exthange Dii is, 

Columbia University Libraries 
ACQUISITIONS DEPARTMENT 

SJS West 114th Street 
N E W Y O R K 2 7 , N . Y . 

( REFERENCE TO: 

You, invoke 
Dated: 

Total Amount: 

L J 

Y O U R P R O M P T attention to the message indicated below will help us t o keep our acquisitions 
p r o g r a m on a current basis, and will be deeply appreciated. 

W i t h r e f e r e n c e t o o u r o r d e r n o . d a t e d SUBJECT: Our Order Number 

f o r : 

p l e a s e t a k e i m m e d i a t e a c t i o n o n t h e m a t t e r ( s ) i n d i c a t e d b y c h e c k -
m a r k ^ ) b e l o w : 

S h i p m e n t n o t y e t r e c e i v e d ; o v e r d u e ; k i n d l y s e n d a t o n c e , o r r e p o r t . 
S h i p m e n t r e c e i v e d , b u t w e l a c k i n v o i c e ; s e n d a t o n c e , i n d u p l i c a t e , 

o r a d v i s e u s p r o m p t l y i f n o c h a r g e i s d u e 
A n e r r o r h a s b e e n m a d e i n s h i p m e n t ; y o u h a v e s e n t t h e f o l l o w i n g : 

w h i c h w e a r e r e t u r n i n g u n d e r s e p a r a t e c o v e r . P l e a s e c r e d i t , 
a n d s h i p p r o m p t l y t h e c o r r e c t i t e m , a s i n d i c a t e d a b o v e . 

S h i p m e n t , a s r e c e i v e d , i s i n c o m p l e t e ; y o u h a v e b i l l e d u s f o r 

b u t t h i s w a s n o t r e c e i v e d i n t h e s h i p m e n t c o n t a i n i n g o t h e r 
i t e m s o n s a m e i n v o i c e ; p l e a s e s h i p i t e m p r o m p t l y , o r a d v i s e . 

W e h a v e r e c e i v e d d u p l i c a t e s h i p m e n t o f t h i s o r d e r ; f i r s t c o p y w a s 
r e c e i v e d ; a s e c o n d c o p y h a s j u s t 
a r r i v e d ; t h i s l a t t e r c o p y i s t h e r e f o r e b e i n g r e t u r n e d t o y o u 
u n d e r s e p a r a t e c o v e r ; i n c a s e o f d o u b l e c h a r g e , p l e a s e c r e d i t . 

W e f i n d t h a t t h e c o p y y o u h a v e s u p p l i e d i s d e f e c t i v e , a s f o l l o w s : 
: i t T s t h e r e f o r e b e -

i n g r e t u r n e d u n d e r s e p a r a t e c o v e r ; p l e a s e s h i p r e p l a c e m e n t 
c o p y p r o m p t l y , o n a " n o c h a r g e , " e x c h a n g e b a s i s . 

W e b e l i e v e t h a t a n e r r o r h a s b e e n m a d e i n b i l l i n g : i t e m h a s b e e n 
c h a r g e d a t r a t K e r t h a n 
p l e a s e s e n d c r e d i t o r c o r r e c t e d i n v o i c e , o r a d v i s e . 

O t h e r ; 

A d d i t i o n a l d a t a : 

Q We have received from you the item(s) described above. 
• Wc have not as yet received an invoice for this material. Would you kindly supply a triplicate 

invoice on the enclosed forms at your earliest convenience? Please return this letter with your 

• W e can find no record of having placed an order with you for this material. Please supply us 
with our order number and date of order, or with any other information which will help us 
to identify our order. W e will hold your invoice and material until we hear from you. 

Q We have received your invoice on which the material described above is listed. 
O W c have not yet received this material. Please inform us when and how it was shipped and, 

if appropriate, institute tracer proceedings and inform us of your findings. 
I"! According to our records, we approved payment for the above-cited item on your earlier in-

voice # , dated , in the amount of 
• W e are approving payment for other items on the invoice, but arc making a deduction 

for this one item. 
• We are returning your invoice with this letter. 

C O L U M B I A UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
Acquisitions Department 

YOUR REPLY: (For your convenience, phase reply in space below, and retain the duplicate copy for your files.) 

V e r y t r u l y y o u r s , 

A r t h u r P . S w e e t 
A c q u i s i t i o n s L i b r a r i a n 

398 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



"Sample # 3." 
Columbia University Libraries 

A C Q U I S I T I O N S D E P A R T M E N T 
535 West 114th Street 
N E W Y O R K 27, N . Y . 

Book Order Division 
Serials Acquisitions Division 
Gift & Exchange Division 

R 1 WITH REFERENCE TO: 

Your communication of 
Your invoice 

Dated: 

L _J Total Amount: 

Y O U R K I N D a t t e n t i o n is i n v i t e d t o t h e m e s s a g e i n d i c a t e d b e l o w . W e g r e a t l y a p p r e c i a t e a l l 

e f f o r t s w h i c h h e l p u s m a i n t a i n o u r a c q u i s i t i o n s p r o g r a m o n a c u r r e n t basis. 

SUBJECT: ~~ Our Order Number 

OUR MESSAGE: 

• Thank you very much for having given' us permission to return the item cited above. It is being forwarded to 
you under separate cover. 

• Thank you for submitting the above item(s) on approval. In accordance with the decision of a departmental 
librarian, this material is being returned under separate cover. 

• For the reason indicated immediately below, we are returning under separate cover the item cited above. 
• I m p e r f e c t c o p y . Please s u p p l y a p e r f e c t c o p y . 
• P u b l i c a t i o n n o t t h e o n e o r d e r e d . If y o u can s u p p l y t h e p u b l i c a t i o n desired, please d o so a n d s u b -

• D u p l i c a t e o f c o p y s u p p l i e d earlier b y y o u o n s a m e o r d e r . 
• P u b l i c a t i o n is in f o l l o w i n g c a t e g o r y , o n w h i c h r e p o r t p r i o r t o s u p p l y w a s r e q u e s t e d . * 

• Part of series • Reprint • Dissertation 
• Publication of society • Extract • Separate 

FURTHER EXPLANATION OR INSTRUCTIONS: 

• P a y m e n t w a s m a d e f o r this i t e m o n y o u r i n v o i c e as cited a b o v e . Will you, therefore, please send us a 
credit memorandum? 

• A d e d u c t i o n w a s m a d e f o r this i t e m o n y o u r i n v o i c e as cited a b o v e . No credit memorandum is required. 

C O L U M B I A U N I V E R S I T Y L I B R A R I E S 
Acquisitions Department 

•Instruction # 3 on our order f o r m reads as follows: "If any item on this order is part of a series, or a publication of a 
society, or an extract, separate or reprint or dissertation, please report before supplying, or supply ON APPROVAL." 

tluced to a minimum; and results have been 
consistently satisfactory. 

While at Columbia, Fleming Bennett went 
further in the same direction, by introducing 
an integrated series of seven printed form 
letters, two of which (see: "Sample # 2 " and 
"Sample # 3 " ) are essentially "claim" forms, 
with paragraphs or sub-paragraphs corre-
sponding to six of the nine previously indi-
cated- claim situations.1 Since that library, 
having undertaken a program of short-range, 
systematic claiming of overdue shipments 
(after four weeks, for all domestic orders, 
or ten weeks, for foreign orders), uses a copy 
of the correlated order-slip for the initial 
"follow-up," that first situation has not re-
quired inclusion in these letter forms. On 
the use of this series of form letters, Bennett2 

1 Other unit-sheets in this uniformly designed series 
include: ( i ) special order situations (special delivery, on 
approval, etc.); (2) secondary follow-up of overdue 
serials items on standing- or subscription-orders; ( 3 ) 
solicitation of serial publication as g i f t or exchange; (4) 
other g i f t or exchange solicitation situations; ( 5 ) mis-
cellaneous correspondence form, with spaces provided 
for "our message" and " y o u r reply." Window envelopes 
are used with all seven. 

2 In a letter to the author, dated J a n u a r y 14, 1952. 

reported: "We have found them to be great 
time-savers and heartily recommend their 
adoption for acquisitions work in libraries of 
your size." Prior to printing in quantity lots, 
the letters were tried out in mimeographed 
form; and some of the original messages were 
"revised, in the light of experience, and re-
grouped so as to take advantage of space-
savings afforded by letterpress." 

II. Reporting, like claiming, is a generic 
term covering several types of operation. 
The three main kinds of reporting are: (1) 
Notification to the order-initiator of the 
arrival of an item—usually and most eco-
nomically accomplished by return of the 
order-, search- or requisition-slip, endorsed 
with date book was received. (2) Advice 
to the order-initiator that the order was not 
placed, because item is already in the library 
in same or another edition. (3) Recording, 
and relaying to the order-initiator, of pub-
lishers' and dealers' "short reports," ("out-
of-print," "item sold," etc.). 

Here, again, there are differences in library 
policy which affect fundamentally the prob-
lem of form-design. Reporting, of all three 
types, is important only if selection (in the 
sense, at least, of recommendation for pur-
chase) is done in large part by faculty mem-
bers, or a network of departmental librarians, 
or other "patrons" outside the order depart-
ment itself or the administrative librarian. 
Reporting of the second sort is significant 
only in a library which is seriously concerned 
with the restriction of added-copy purchases. 
And reporting of the third kind may, under 
certain circumstances, be limited to notices of 
order cancellation; while, in other policy and 
practice conditions, a comprehensive service 
must be undertaken which will include the 
transmission of delayed-shipment reports. 

This third variety of reporting is a most 
difficult procedure to reduce to a routine. In 
the first place, such reports are received in a 
bewildering diversity of ways: by return of 
the library's order-slip (or claim form) with 
report noted thereon, by post-card (or other 
printed) form, by notation on an invoice for 
partial shipment of total order, by added 
paragraph in some personal letter, etc. All of 
these communications must be channeled 
through some focal point at which the report 
can be noted before it gets lost in other 
routine procedures. 

OCTOBER, 1953 399 -



Secondly, the report must be so expressed 
as to be clearly understandable both by the 
order-initiator and by the clerical staff of the 
acquisitions department, in terms of what each 
is expected to do about it. This is not always 
the case with the report-wording as received 
from the supplier; e.g., "not yet published— 
will be ready in May": will the book auto-
matically be supplied in May? or must the 
order department reorder in May? or is the 
order-initiator expected to file a new request 
for purchase in May? 

T o borrow a cataloging concept for an 
acquisitions application, a third difficulty is 
that of "linearity." Just as the physical 
volume may cover several co-equal subjects, 
yet must stand in only one shelf location, so 
the supplier's report often covers items re-
quested by two or more persons, yet cannot 
conveniently be sent to more than one, as it 
stands. 

Finally, many short-reports require a rather 
intimate, professional acquaintance with the 
practices and proclivities of the various pub-
lishers, dealers and agents, for their intelligent 
interpretation. Thus, the report, "out-of-
print—we are searching," may be no more 
than a pious expression of good-will from 
one dealer, yet the promise of vigorous, effec-
tive action from another. And all too often, 
a report of "out-of-print" may actually mean: 
"We don't know where to get it or how to 
find out, but prefer not to admit it," or even, 
"We just don't care to bother with this 
order." 

If only those reports whose effect is to 
cancel the order need be relayed, the problem 
is much less complex. If correlated order 
slips are used, one copy (probably the one 
for outstanding-order file) can be printed on 
the reverse side to serve as a report form, 
and the "pulling" of slips and the check-mark 
completion of the report can perhaps be done 
directly from the supplier's notification, how-
ever submitted. If other order- and record-
forms are used, a separate 3" x 5" slip, such 
as the University of Illinois Library form 
("Sample # 4 " ) , can be attached to the basic 
order record and forwarded with appropriate 
check-marks. This Illinois form combines 
compactness with exceptional flexibility: By 
the use of multiple check-marks, any variety 
of cancellation-report situation can be trans-
mitted; the form can be used, not only for 

" S a m p l e # 4 . 

T o : 

R E P O R T ON Y O U R O R D E R 
I n L i b r a r y (See back 

of c a r d ) 
See back of this slip 
See a t t a c h e d c o r r e -

s p o n d e n c e 
O u t of p r i n t 
P u b l i s h e r out of stock 
N o t yet p u b l i s h e d 
S e c o n d h a n d c a t a l o g 

o r d e r , copy sold 
R e o r d e r if c o n t i n u e d 

s e a r c h is d e s i r e d 

L80—3M—10-49—42743 

R e t u r n c a r d if a d d e d 
copy n e e d e d 

V e r y scarce 
U n o b t a i n a b l e 
W e a r e a d v e r t i s i n g 
W e a r e s e a r c h i n g f o r 

used copy 
W i l l s u p p l y w h e n 

a v a i l a b l e 
O r d e r cancelled 

U n i v e r s i t y of Illinois 
L i b r a r y — A c q u i s i t i o n 

D e p a r t m e n t 

the relaying of such short-reports, but for the 
order-not-placed type of reporting as well, 
and as a sort of "buck-slip" in forwarding 
correspondence or reports which concern the 
order-initiator. The Library of Congress 
"Status of Order Report" combines the noti-
fication-of-arrival and the order-not-placed 
types of reporting with the reporting of order-
cancellation situations. 

If, however, organizational or policy con-
siderations require the transmission, not only 
of cancellation reports, but of those short-
reports whose intent is to warn of a delay 
in shipment ("out-of-stock," "reprinting," 
"importing," "new edition in preparation," 
"not yet published," etc.), a more complicated 
form and procedure is inevitable. At Cornell, 
where correlated order-slips are used and 
comprehensive relaying of short-reports is 
necessary, the multi-lithed, half-sheet, unit 
report form reproduced below serves for the 
transmission of both cancellation and delay-
in-shipment short-reports. ("Sample # 5 - ) " I n 
this design, dual checking—once for report-
wording and once for status-interpretation 
—affords adequate flexibility and the oppor-
tunity for "translation," where requisite, and 
leaves the recipient in no doubt as to what 
the acquisitions department is doing about the 
order. 

Whether comprehensive or limited relaying 
of short-reports is practiced, the following 
principles deserve serious consideration: (1) 
There should be provision for the injection of 

400 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



R e p o r t t o : 
f o r : 

W e h a v e received the f o l l o w i n g r e p o r t on our 
o r d e r f o r the a b o v e : 

O u t - o f - p r i n t . Out-of-stock. 
A g e n t is s e a r c h i n g ; will r e p o r t . 
T h e r e will be a delay in shipment of 

about 
due to r e p r i n t i n g ; 
due to b i n d i n g ; 
d u e to i m p o r t a t i o n ; 
reason not specified. 

N e w edition in p r e p a r a t i o n , expected i n : 

Item, quoted subject to p r i o r sale, has 
been sold. 
See attached correspondence. 
Item cannot be i d e n t i f i e d ; m o r e i n f o r m a -

tion is r e q u i r e d . 
O t h e r : 

a modicum of professional judgment into what 
is essentially a clerical routine. ( 2 ) Clerical 
routines should be correlated with the li-
brarian's interpretation of order-status, rather 
than with report-wording as received. ( 3 ) 
If selection is done to any large extent out-
side the order department, itself, reports 
should be specific and full, not terse and vague. 
( 4 ) If the report recipient has the responsi-
bility f o r decision as to further action (if any) 
to be taken, this should be clearly indicated. 

I I I . Miscellaneous Correspondence. Rou-
tine correspondence with suppliers, and inter-
campus memoranda, offer another large area 
f o r the use of forms. Some of the many 
appropriate situations a r e : 

Request f o r quotations (on specific item, 
or on desiderata list). 

Notification of rejection and return of "on 
approval" or unsolicited shipments; 
(might be regarded as a "claim" situa-
tion). 

Request f o r catalogs, and f o r inclusion on 
catalog mailing-lists. 

Rejection of offer or quotation, where agent 
requests reply. 

Transmission of catalogs to book-selectors, 
with instructions. 

Request f o r permission to return an un-
wanted item, obtained through an error 
in selection, or an error in "searching." 

O f f e r of library duplicates f o r sale. 

"Sample # 5 . " 
( F u n d No. ) on O r d e r No. 

P R E S E N T S T A T U S O F O R D E R : 

O r d e r h a s been cancelled. (If you wish 
to h a v e us a d v e r t i s e or search f u r t h e r , 
please a d v i s e . ) 
A w a i t i n g f u t u r e shipment. 
T h e L i b r a r y will r e o r d e r in about 

I n d e f i n i t e ; if located, 
item will be s e n t ; 
a g e n t will quote. 

H o l d i n g , f o r our reply. ( P l e a s e a d v i s e 
w h a t action you recommend.) 
O t h e r : 

C O R N E L L U N I V E R S I T Y L I B R A R Y 
Acquisitions D e p a r t m e n t 

Cancellation of orders, solicitation of gifts 
and exchanges, and acknowledgment of gifts, 
are more obvious and common areas f o r the 
application of form-letters; and many li-
braries seem to employ two or more forms 
for some or each of these purposes. 

In general, it is worth considering, as a 
rule-of-thumb, whether any problem in acqui-
sitions work requiring correspondence which 
comes up in substantially identical form with 
an average frequency of once a week or more 
should not have a form letter (or part of 
one) designed to take care of it. 

If it be admitted that forms have a growing 
importance derived from accelerating work 
pressures, I believe that the attention of the 
acquisitions librarian should be directed 
t o w a r d : an increase in the kinds of forms 
employed, wherever a new kind can serve a 
useful, time- and cost-reducing purpose; a 
decrease in the number of forms, through the 
consolidation of variations within the same 
broad class into single, multiple-purpose units; 
and a constant attention to the improvement 
of forms in the light of studied experience. 

T h e r e is much help to be gained from the 
study of what is being done elsewhere: both 
in the discovery of directly-usable models f o r 
new forms or the improvement of old, and 
in the indirect aid of ideas which stimulate 
original research on problems of forms and 

(Continued on page 452) 

OCTOBER, 1953 
40 7 



tion of the A L A she was responsible for the 
organization and inspiration of many members 
of her profession. Her services were recog-
nized by the grant of an honorary membership 
in the Division of Cataloging and Classifica-
tion at the Atlantic City Conference of the 
A L A in 1948. 

Miss Smith's influence was communicated 
not only through her direction of a large staff 
and by participation in the activities of pro-
fessional groups, but also, in her earlier years, 
through the teaching of courses in library 
methods in the university. 

Publications 
(Continued from page 443) 

the more important articles in English. T h e 
Nordisk Tidskrift for Bok och Biblioteks-
vasen, quarterly journal for scholarly libraries, 
publishes summaries in French and German 
as well as English, but the general library 
periodicals use only English. These are 
Biblioteksbladet ( S w e d e n ) , Bog og Bibliotek 
( N o r w a y ) , and Bogens Verden (Denmark). 
T h i s new policy will greatly increase the use-

fulness of these important journals, and it 
would be well for other library periodicals 
in minor languages to follow suit. T h e 
German Biicherei und Bildung inserts mimeo-
graphed English summaries with each issue, 
but unfortunately they are not the same size 
as the printed page and cannot be readily in-
cluded in the bound volume. 

Forms in Acquisitions Work 
(Continued from page 401) 

methods. A comprehensive analysis of all the 
"standard brands" of forms for acquisitions 
work, and all their variations and permuta-
tions, would be a wonderful boon—but a 
staggering task to effect, since the forms, to 
be intelligible, must be considered in terms 
of services rendered and methods employed. 
And such a survey would require frequent 
revision. 

Another potential boon would be some sort 
of current, continuous, form-review agency 
—perhaps conducted as a column in a profes-
sional journal—to which sample forms would 
be submitted, and by which descriptive and 
critical comment on new developments would 
be disseminated. T h e potential usefulness of 
such an agency would not, of course, be re-
stricted to acquisitions work, but might extend 
to formal problems of all departments of the 
library. 

T h e two-year "Photo-Clerical Experi-

ment," headed by Ralph Shaw3 and carried on 
in eleven cooperating libraries, promises to 
afford more objective and basic aid to the 
forms-designer in his problems. Even apart 
from the documentation the tests have pro-
duced as to the merits or ineptness of photo-
graphic methods for various routines under 
several sets of management conditions, this 
program has also arrived at some of the facts 
and figures on comparative cost- and per-
formance-data of other, present methods 
which have heretofore been so sadly lacking. 
W e need to know, f a r more clearly than we 
do now, what is the quickest, what is the 
cheapest, what is the most effective, way of 
accomplishing those services which are re-
quired or expected of us, in the circumstances 
under which we have to operate. 

3 Shaw, Ralph R . The Use of Photography for 
Clerical Routines; A Report to the American Council 
of Learned Societies. Washington, D.C., American 
Council of Learned Societies, 1953. 

Evans to U N E S C O 
D r . Luther H . Evans, Librarian of Congress since 1945, was elected Director General of 

U N E S C O as of J u l y 1. A statement concerning D r . Evans appears in the J u l y 6, 1953, issue 
of the LC Information Bulletin. 

452 • COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 

K 
X