Abstract:
SCONUL Focus - Number 52, 2011 p34-38
It’s the all too familiar picture... campus consolidation,
staff redundancies, a dwindling
book budget, mountains of boxes of new books,
processing delays due to a lack of staff and an outdated
acquisitions workflow that hasn’t caught up
yet with a changed workplace. This is undoubtedly
a familiar scenario for many institutions
and was the situation at Buckinghamshire New
University (Bucks) in the first half of 2010. Change was needed to improve our labour- and
time-intensive acquisitions process which already
used electronic data interchange (EDI) ordering
and some outsourced book supplier processing.
Shelf ready acquisitions seemed the best way forward,
but at a price. In 2010 we were faced with
the need to change our acquisitions processes but
with no additional monies to invest to achieve
this. However, almost a year on, we are running
a smooth and efficient acquisitions process
which is already showing improved order supply
times and has made a positive impact on staffing
resources and tasks within the library team. All
this has been achieved without major financial
investment, with just a closer look at our staff
and technical resources and a drive to maximise
systems and technical expertise we already had.
