ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 2 6 4 / C&RL News ■ A p ril 2002 College & Research Libraries news Library-sponsored faculty book-buying trips A lo o k at a different approach to collection development by Malcolm H. Brantz A cademic librarians constantly strive to buy the best books to support curricu­ lums in an ever-changing world. Most purchases are the result of approval plans, selections by librarians, and recommendations by faculty. A fourth buying channel, faculty book-buying trips, has evolved into a major source of new book purchases at a small lib­ eral arts university in Colorado and is rapidly growing at a state community college. Fac­ ulty book-buying trips allow faculty to use library funds at super bookstores to purchase books that support their disciplines. Two very different institutions The university is a nondenominational, Chris­ tian liberal arts university offering 25 majors and three master’s degree programs to 800 traditional and 1,000 adult students. Faculty book-buying trips began there four years ago when I was director of the library. Histori­ cally, the library had been poorly funded and students were guided to other metropolitan libraries for books and journals. The library continues to use faculty book-buying trips to keep its collection up to date. The state comprehensive community col­ lege offers transfer courses, vocational edu­ cation, work force development, and com­ bo munity educational programs. Faculty book­ buying trips have been used for the past year oks ince I’ve become the Learning Resources Center (LRC) director. The LRC at the college incorporates a new 27,000 square-foot library housing 44,000 volumes, an online catalog, and 900 full-text electronic journals supple­ mented by 400 print journals. Both libraries use Denver’s Tattered Cover and Barnes and Noble bookstores, each of which stocks more than 150,000 unique titles. Faculty purchase orders from libraries have varied from $500 to $5,000 per trip, with more than 250 books bought at one time. Prior to final purchase, the libraries check each title to see if it is already owned. The sales receipt, with duplicate titles crossed out, is sent to the faculty showing them what they purchased. These books are quickly cataloged and placed on the bookshelves. This method of buying books has proven to be extremely popular and productive for faculty and stu­ dents at both libraries. Using super bookstores When the university library first began pur­ chasing books at retail stores, library staff did the shopping. Librarians identified books for purchase and created a written list while at About the author M alcolm H. Brantz is director o f the learning resource center a t Arapahoe Com m unity College in Littleton, Colorado, e-mail mbrantz@arapahoe.edu C&RL News ■ A p ril 2002 / 265 the superstores. We w ould then go back to the library to see if w e ow ned any of the books and returned to the store to buy books not in the collection. O n average, ten percent of the selected books w ere already in the university library’s limited collection of 39,000 books. Mul­ tiple trips proved to be labor intensive so w e had a work-study student accom pany librar­ ians to the store and call a second work-study student to check titles at the library. This al­ low ed for a single trip, reduced the am ount of labor involved in writing lists, and proved ac­ ceptable in eliminating duplicate purchases. We began to enjoy the trips so m uch that w e de­ cided it was time to invite a faculty m em ber to join us. T a k in g fa c u lty to su p e r b o o ksto re s The dean of humanities was invited to join us in the second year of the program. We gener­ ated a purchase order for $2,500 at the local Barnes and Noble store for the dean ’s pur­ chase. He initially selected more than $2,500 worth of books, but the library already ow ned ten percent of them. Several faculty members and two additional deans w ere invited on five more trips during the year. O ur planning was minimal and invitations often depended on fac­ ulty being in the library at the right time. During one trip, two members of the En­ glish Department invited a student to help with the book-buying and brought a list of litera­ ture books to purchase. This trip took more time and effort on their part, but both were pleased with the books. However, we learned that bringing prepared list of titles can be a mistake w hen the dean of the school of music brought a list of 200 music CDs to Barnes and Noble. Although Denver’s Barnes and Noble claims to stock 40,000 music CD titles, display cat­ egories used by the Barnes and Noble music departm ent at that time w ere confusing and lacked consistency. The faculty m em ber’s ex­ perience of searching for specific CDs was slow and tiresome and resulted in less than 20 per­ cent success. Instead of spending $2,000, we purchased less then $500 w orth of CDs. The faculty m em ber was frustrated and felt the re­ tail CDs w ere overpriced. After this experience, w e changed our tac­ tics. If faculty had a list, w e asked that they give it to the library and w e w ould use a tradi­ tional channel to buy the materials. Trips to O ur g o a l w a s to m a ke th e tr ip s a fu n tim e f o r c o m m u n ic a tin g b e tw e e n lib ra ria n s an d , m o st im p o rta n tly , to o f fe r f a c u lt y th e o p p o rtu n it y to b u y b o o ks. the super bookstores w ere to be made with­ out lists. The idea was to “let the store’s book­ shelves speak to their curriculum.” This has had an immediate, lasting, and positive impact for speeding up the purchasing process and reducing w ork on the part of faculty. Faculty came back from the store saying they w ere pleasantly suiprised by the variety of academic books on the shelves. K e e p it sim p le We found that w e needed to constantly re­ mind faculty to keep their buying trips simple. O ur goal was to make the trips a fun time for communicating with librarians and, most im­ portantly, to offer faculty the opportunity to buy books. At the end of the second year, re­ tail buying trips continued to be offered on an informal basis, with some faculty wanting to make trips but not being invited. In the third year, our university’s program becam e more formal by design and lost some of its personal touch. A m em o was sent to six deans at the university, in which the library offered to purchase $5,000 worth of books for each school. Some deans formed buying com­ mittees, while others divided the funds by de­ partments in the school. Due to faculty request, w e expanded the retailers to include a local school of theology and a large university’s bookstore. Becoming more formal actually re­ duced the num ber of buying trips in the year due to lack of follow-through by some schools. In addition to the offer to each dean, w e continued to make special trips with faculty to build specific subject areas. During one such trip, the chairman of the art departm ent pur­ chased $3,800 w orth of books in 45 minutes! At the other extreme, a history professor felt buying new books was a waste of money. This faculty mem ber selected three area used book­ stores to visit. We generated a purchase order of $150 for each store. He com pleted his pur­ chases and said he w anted to return only to 266 / C&RL News ■ A p ril 2002 S tu d e n ts b e n e fit fro m th e b o o k ­ b u y in g trip s in th a t b o o k s th a t are re le v a n t to w h a t th e fa c u lt y d isc u ss are in th e c o lle c tio n and s tu d e n ts are a ssu re d th a t fa c u lty 's re co m m e n d e d b o o k s have been purchased. the largest used bookstore. He eventually pur­ chased another $800 w orth of books from this store. We invited an art departm ent fac­ ulty m em ber to visit the same used b ook­ store because of its extensive collection in art and architecture books. After his visit, the faculty mem ber expressed an interest in shop­ ping at the used bookstore. A c o m m u n ity c o lle g e 's e x p e rie n ce s The community college’s experience with fac­ ulty book-buying trips is limited. A book-buy­ ing trip was used to start a branch campus library at a center ten miles from the main facility. The first trip produced 30 books val­ ued at $1,000. To our surprise, the branch cam pus administration decided to pay for an additional $700 w orth of books identified during this trip. Faculty book-buying trips often produce external m oney to purchase library books at the community college. Last year, while spend­ ing $1,000 for branch campus books, the same administrators decided to supply $3,500 more from their 2000-2001 budget. W hat w a s le arn ed O ur experience is that books acquired from retail stores differ significantly from books supplied through approval plans. Not surpris­ ingly, the approval books are more often aca­ demic. Yet, the num ber of scholarly m ono­ graphs w e have found on the superstore shelves surprised us. It does, however, take six m onths for the retail stock to change over to m ake second trips productive by the same faculty members. It is possible to send faculty to bookstores by them selves and have them simply pull books and leave them at the institutional sales desk for later payment. Drawbacks to this m ethod range from missing a great opp o rtu ­ nity to m eet with the faculty to confusion as to w hich superstore they should visit to the faculty’s loss of focus about the purpose of the trip. From the library’s perspective, retail purchase trips take time and effort and re­ quire library participation in order to maxi­ mize the benefits. However, the library, faculty, and students all benefit from this m ethod of buying new books. Any academic library is assured of ob­ taining books that are highly useful to their students. The library is also exhibiting its trust in the choices made by faculty and receives much praise for working closely with the fac­ ulty. Additionally, our libraries do not have the staff to specialize in many subject areas, and faculty can provide relief for this deficiency. Faculty win in this process because they can build their part of the collection to aug­ m ent the courses they are or will be teach­ ing. They can also observe and examine new books which, if valuable, can be acquired on the spot, and they develop a better grasp for which books are in the library. Students benefit from the book-buying trips in that books that are relevant to what the faculty discuss are in the collection and students are assured that faculty’s recom ­ m ended books have been purchased. From a collection developm ent perspec­ tive, w e have received a higher rate of fac­ ulty input than before. From a purely mar­ keting perspective, w e get great publicity from this effort. While our budgets are not large, w e are experiencing a steady increase in lev­ els of support. A r tic le s re p o rtin g fa c u lt y 's ro le in b u y in g b o o ks In the early 1990s, three articles that address the faculty’s role in buying library books had a com m on thread— the need for the library to have the final say concerning which books are purchased. Strauch1 acknow ledges the need for faculty input in selection. Yet, the final decision on purchasing should be in the hands of the librarians. Strauch listed four “givens” to support this argument: judicious spending, control of budget, finite am ount of m oney to spend, and abdication of responsi­ bility to turn selection over to faculty. We think the positive publicity among faculty and greater ownership of library resources through (co n tin u ed on page 292) 292 / C&RL News ■ A p ril 2002 College Libraries Section and the Com m u­ nity a n d J u n io r C ollege Libraries Section to c o n s id e r a single, u n ifie d set o f s ta n d a rd s for all a c ad e m ic libraries. T h e ULS P u b lic S ervice D ire c to rs o f Large R esearch Libraries D iscussion G ro u p a d d r e s s e d p r o p o s a ls f o r e x p a n d in g its m e m b e rsh ip , as w ell as sev eral s u b s ta n ­ tive issues. T he n e w re c o m m e n d a tio n o n m e m b e rs h ip in clu d e s all c u rre n t m em b e rs as o f 2000. T h e to p 33 ARL libraries, by v o lu m e c o u n t, u p to a m axim um o f 50 in ­ stitu tio n s, w o u ld also b e in clu d e d . D iane Strauss (U niversity o f N orth C arolina), th e g r o u p ’s co n v e n o r, re p o r te d th at th e y will b e v o tin g o n this p r o p o s a l b y th e ALA A nnual C onference in Ju n e . The g ro u p also d isc u s s e d library secu rity issues a n d Web site usability studies during its regular m ee t­ ing. T h e ULS C u r r e n t T o p ic s D is c u s s io n G ro u p o rg a n iz e d its se ss io n a ro u n d th e to p ic o f w h a t a c a d e m ic lib raries c a n d o to e n h a n c e th e ro le o f th e library as a “p la c e ” o n c a m p u s. B etsy B a k e r ( N o rth w e s te rn U niversity), th e g ro u p ’s covenor, p re s e n te d a n e w ly c o in e d te rm “in re a c h ”— th a t is, ( “Library-sponsored...” co n tin u e d fr o m p a g e 266) faculty book-buying trips far outw eighs the issue of final say. The retail trips are, after all, only o n e o f four acquisition channels. In another article, Buis2 proposes com plex “departmental selection param eters” for acquir­ ing new books. The am ount of effort by both librarians and faculty in this system appears to be extensive. The cost of acquiring a book in terms of staff time is a big factor in small higher education libraries. At both the university and comm unity college, investing in materials ver­ sus process must receive a high priority. A later article by Dittemore3 reports on how Tulane University is bringing the responsibil­ ity for bo o k selection back to the library. Fac­ ulty politics a n d better use of resources w ere cited as a driving force for making this change. C o n c lu s io n Changes in the inform ation flows o f the late 1990s suggest that n e w players are joining the patro n ’s information channels. In the fore­ seeable future, libraries will have even m ore establishing facilities a n d services that d raw o u r lib rary u se rs b a c k in to th e p h y sical p la c e o f th e library. T h e C u rre n t T o p ic s s e s s io n in c lu d e d p re s e n ta tio n s from th re e in stitu tio n s w ith in n o v ativ e n e w facilities in p lac e , o r a n ­ tic ip a te d . R uth K ifer d e s c r ib e d G e o rg e M ason U n iv ersity ’s u n iq u e J o h n s o n C en ­ ter, a m u ltiu se facility th at p ro v id e s a w id e ra n g e o f se rv ic es to stu d e n ts , in c lu d in g som e library a n d inform ation services. Lynn S utton d e s c rib e d W ayne State U niv ersity ’s n e w u n d e rg ra d u a te library a n d so m e o f its n o n tra d itio n a l p ro g ram s. T he last p r e s e n ­ ta tio n w a s by R ichard M eyer, w h o p r e ­ s e n te d p lan s for th e n e w in fo rm a tio n c o m ­ m o n s at G eo rg ia In stitu te o f T echnology, as w ell as lo n g -ra n g e p lan s for a n e w in ­ n o v ativ e L earning R esource Center. In a d ­ d ition to th e se p ro g re ssiv e facilities, he d e ­ sc rib e d sev eral in n o v ativ e library in re a ch p ro g ram s, su c h as lu n c h a n d in stru ctio n a l se ssio n s for s e n io r a d m in is tra to rs ’ s e c re ­ taries. T h e d isc u ssio n g r o u p ’s se ssio n w as w ell re c e iv e d w ith m o re th a n 80 a tte n d e e s p re s e n t.—J o h n Lehner, U niversity o f H o u s ­ ton, jle h n e r @ u h .e d u ■ com petition for m aterials budgets with other library-like inform ation providers and com ­ pu ter departm ents. I believe it is crucial for the library to take a twofold approach to providing students and faculty with books. First, w e m ust take ad­ vantage of the electronic advances in order to be efficient a n d functional. Secondly, w e sh o u ld n ’t turn o u r backs o n spending quality time w ith our faculty and should use super bookstores to gain an advantage over our li­ brary-like com petition. N o te s 1. K. Strauch, “Librarian versus faculty se ­ lection: the good meets the bad and the ugly,” Collection M a n a g em en t 12 (1990): 37-41. 2. E. Buis, “Collection developm ent poli­ cies: coordinating teaching faculty and library staff interest at Southeast Missouri State Uni­ versity,” Collection M a n a g em en t 13 (1990): 11-25. 3. M. Dittemore, “Changing Patterns of fac­ ulty participation in collection developm ent,” Collection M anagem ent 16 (1992), 79—89- ■ mailto:jlehner@uh.edu