PLA Tech Note: electronic acquisition

[GraceAnne A. DeCandido]

Dear folks,
I am about to embark on the ninth Tech Note for the 
Public Library Association, this one on electronic 
acquisitions: more specifically, how *public libraries* are 
ordering their books and materials through online 
systems.

As usual when I come to you, I am at the very beginning 
of my work. I have gathered some articles and book 
chapters that deal with automated acquisitions, almost 
entirely from an academic library standpoint. (I do have 
the 9/1/99 LJ article on online ordering). I would be 
grateful for any written or online citations for material 
from the past three years.

More than that, however, I am interesting in your 
stories. Is online ordering/electronic acquisitions par for 
the course now? Have you just begun? Are you trembling 
on the brink? What information do you wish you had 
before you automated your buying? What advice would 
you give those about to begin? What helped you along? 
Did the fairly vast material on academic libraries’ 
automating acquisitions assist you at all?

The PLA Tech Notes are a series of short web-
published documents, posted on the PLA web site at 
http://www.pla.org. Each is 1200-1500 words, and 
each includes links and bibliography. The ones available 
so far are:

Wireless Networks: Unplugged, and Play
http://www.pla.org/wireless.html

Electronic Statistics: Counting Crows
http://www.pla.org/electronicstats.htm

Video Teleconferencing: Here, There, and Everywhere
http://www.pla.org/videoconferencing.htm

Intranets: The Web Inside
http://www.pla.org/intranet.htm

Metadata: Always More Than You Think
http://www.pla.org/metadata.htm

DOI: The Persistence of Memory
http://www.pla.org/doi.htm

Push Technology will be posted shortly; digital disaster 
planning is being revised.

Thanks, as always, for your help.
GraceAnne, 10/11/99


GraceAnne A. DeCandido
Blue Roses Editorial and Web Consulting
350 E. 236th St.
Bronx, NY 10470-2104
voice: 718/994-7794  * fax: 718/994-9851
E-mail ladyhawk at well.com
http://www.well.com/user/ladyhawk/gadhome.html
"The use of language is all we have to pit against death and silence."
--Joyce Carol Oates