ACQNET v1n124 (October 31, 1991) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/serials/stacks/acqnet/acq-v1n124 ISSN: 1057-5308 *************** ACQNET, Vol. 1, No. 124, October 31, 1991 ========================================= (1) FROM: Ann O'Neill SUBJECT: OP searching, retrospective buying (18 lines) (2) FROM: Pamela Rose SUBJECT: Rush order service charges (13 lines) (3) FROM: Peter Stevens SUBJECT: Rush order service charges (13 lines) (4) FROM: Lenore Wilkas SUBJECT: Collets, Slavic purchasing (21 lines) (5) FROM: Christian Boissonnas SUBJECT: Collets, Slavic purchasing (33 lines) (6) FROM: Peter Stevens SUBJECT: Singaporean vendors (11 lines) (7) FROM: Maria Cap SUBJECT: Singaporean vendors (14 lines) (8) FROM: Helen Mack SUBJECT: Acquisitions departments procedure manuals (14 lines) (1) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 24 Oct 91 07:12 From: Ann O'Neill Subject: Out-of-print buying, retrospective buying I have a question on retrospective buying. In my collection development class recently a couple of services were mentioned. I am curious as to how many people are using them and with what success. First was ABA's Automated Bookman which matches library want lists with ads in _AB Bookman's Weekly_. (Is this the same as the Online Book Service Faxon was starting in early 1990? What happened with it?) [No. That's called BookQuest. There is an ACQNET backfile on that (BKQUEST.POS). C.] The second service was an "approval" plan for retrospective buying from Blackwell North America. I heard that BNA will set up a profile and check their files (back to 1970) against a library's desiderata list and then against a tape of the library's holdings. Any information on any of these would be helpful. (2) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1991 09:32 EDT From: Pamela Rose Subject: Rush order service charges In reply to Rosann Bazirjian's question about rush order charges: we have only been charged for 2nd day air or overnight delivery when we specifically request it. Our vendor accepts "Rush" orders without charge (or at least, they do not show that we pay more for such a request). The service is ok, but not wonder- ful. We have gotten a book in 2 days, more often 1-2 weeks. Who is the vendor upping the charge? Ballen is our vendor. We frequently "shop around" for a really rush item; we buy at our local university bookstore, or call various vendors to see who has the item in stock, then request it "rush", which gets it to us in a few days. (3) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1991 09:10:26 -0800 (PST) From: Peter Stevens Subject: Rush order charges Not only do we rarely pay rush charges, we usually receive a discount of from 3% to 40% on most of our rush ordering. We do have the advantage of one of the nation's largest bookstores nearby, where we can order via fax and have local delivery within a few days, with a 10% discount. We also can order by phone from a local regional wholesaler who gives us discounts in the 35-40% range and whose books we receive within a few days of our order. In addition, for books not in the inventory of these sources, we use Baker and Taylor, Midwest Library Services and Majors, with fulfillment within a week (or two or three, in some cases), again with discounts from 3% to 35%. (4) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 31 Oct 91 09:06:01 -0500 From: "Lenore Wilkas" Subject: Les Livres Etrangers shipments from Collets Last Friday, we received a listing of all serial standing orders and monograph- ic orders that were held by Les Livres Etrangers at the time of their demise. After each was a column marked "Yes/No". As there was no accompanying letter, we assumed that we were to mark if we wanted to continue to receive these from Collets. Yesterday (Wednesday) we received a shipment from Collets of some of the LLE titles, also without any explanation. This morning, I called Collets and spoke with Mr. Philip Taylor. He told me that those items we received were volumes that LLE had in their warehouse at the time of their demise and were due us on our standing orders etc. No new volumes will be sent us until we reply to their listing. When I told him that we had placed these orders elsewhere, he said that there would be no problem with this and that we could return them and let them know the cost of returning them and they would reimburse the postage. I thought this might be enlightening to those of you now sitting with a Collets shipment of Russian titles that you had not requested from them. (5) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 31 Oct 91 20:11:14 EST From: Christian Boissonnas Subject: Collets, Slavic orders We, too, have a received a box of unsolicited books from Collets purporting to be in response to orders placed with Les Livres Etrangers. We decided to return them and asking for a refund of our shipping expense. I am going to take a crack at explaining what's happening here. Collets did, indeed, obtain the lists of orders from Les Livres Etrangers and the stock in house. They figured that the libraries who had ordered these books would want to see them delivered (a legitimate assumption, I think, since they had been ordered). So when the dust settled after many months they started shipping these titles, not realizing that many libraries had in the meantime made other arrangements through Kamkin, etc. What they should have done is write to us and say: "We have these books which you ordered. Do you still want them, given everything that's happened since you ordered them?" That would have been the prudent thing to do. This raises a question in my mind: How many libraries did in fact cancel all their outstanding Les Livres Etrangers orders, rather than simply assume that they would not be coming since the company went out of business? I would guess that some didn't and just went and reordered them elsewhere. The fact that Collets are sending books which they feel to be in response to legitimate open orders can be explained in two ways: one, they chose to ignore the cancella- tions since they had invested in a lot of stock they would be stuck with or, two, they didn't get many cancellations. If the latter is true, I believe that the libraries that neglected to send cancellations have an obligation to pay for those books they are getting now or, at the very least, ask for permission to return them. Tomorrow I will be asking my staff to show me copies of our cancellation notices or, at least, that we sent them. (6) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1991 09:03:15 -0800 (PST) From: Peter Stevens Subject: Singaporean vendors We have two main vendors for Singapore publications: our general China and Southeast Asia vendor Chiao Liu Publication Trading Company, P.O. Box 50324, Sai Ying Pun Post Office, Hong Kong--and an in-country vendor called Select Books Pte Ltd, 19 Tanglin Road, #03-15, Tanglin Shopping Center, Singapore 1024. So far Select Books has proven to be a good source for us, supplying orders in about 95 days from our order date. (7) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 31 Oct 91 15:06:15 PST From: "Maria Cap" Subject: Singaporean library suppliers The Los Angeles County Law Library just recently started using Chopmen Publish- ers (865 Mountbatten Road #05-28/29; Katong Shopping Centre; Singapore 1543; Republic of Singapore) for our Singaporean titles. They can supply monographs and serials from Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries. They say that they can supply legal and government publications and publications of Statutory Boards, associations and universities. They can even invoice in American dollars! However, the only possible drawback in using them is that they add about 20% to 25% of the price as their service charge , as well as charge for actual packing and postage charges. But their service is very good! And they also have a fax no. (65-3440180)! (8) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 30 Oct 91 13:51:12 EST From: Helen P. Mack Subject: Acquisitions Dept. policies/procedures manuals Wanda Dole's query about acquisitions manuals for faculty (ACQNET, vol.1, no. 118, Oct. 19, 1991) prompts me to submit my own somewhat parallel request: Since I transferred to our Acquisitions Dept. only a year ago, I have been facing the need for a departmental manual of policies and procedures. The staff and I have started it, and we have found that starting was the hardest part (not that any of it is easy)! Although it is far from finished, I am wondering how other libraries perform the same operations. With this in mind, I ask anyone to send me a copy of their department's manual of policies and procedures. ******* END OF FILE ****** ACQNET, Vol. 1, No. 124 ****** END OF FILE *******