The Important role of Public Relations in the Library Sector

By Salawu, Bashiru A.

Acquisition is an integral component of collection development. The latter involves building or improving collection of a library to satisfy the information needs of its users. According to Harrods (2005) as quoted by Odogwu (2006), it is the process of planning a stock of acquisition programme not simply to cater for immediate needs, but to build a coherent and reliable collection over a number of years. The components of collection development in order of importance are: community analysis (which according to some authors is the first stage of collection development), collection development policy, selection, acquisition, weeding and evaluation. After the selection of bibliographic resources needed, using selection sources, acquisition of the materials follows. In the past, acquisition used to be limited to print materials and audio - visuals only but in the Digital Age dominated by information and communication technology (ICT), it also includes acquisition of electronic resources engendered by advances in information and communication technology which has shrinked the world to a global village. The ongoing ICT revolution has enabled acquisition of both print and electronic resources for global consumption.

Traditional Acquisition System 

Acquisition is the act of procuring desired books by the library for consultation and utilization by members of its primary community. In other words, it is the process of obtaining books, non-books and other resources by a library to satisfy the information needs of its immediate community. The books must be appropriate and relevant to the need of the community. It is not surprising therefore that the known gateway to library's collection development is the Acquisition Department. The effectiveness of acquisition serves as the foundations on which library systems are built.  

Acquisition of bibliographic resources in the library is guided by selection aids covering monographs/textbooks, periodicals and reference materials.

After selection, acquisition follows which takes several methods: 

• Purchase/subscriptions. 
• Legal deposits.  
• Gifts and exchange. 
• Co- operative acquisition

The foregoing are the traditional methods of acquisition and are still relevant in the electronic environment. 

CURRENT TRENDS - ICT REVOLUTION  

Advances in information and communication technology have greatly impacted on librarianship with profound changes in the operations and services of the library and thus ushered in a new era denoted by such appellations as Information Age, Digital Age and Knowledge Age. Also noteworthy, is the emergence of electronic publications which now form part of acquisition system e.g. e-book, e - journal, e - newspaper, e magazine etc. and the development of electronic library of various types e.g. virtual library, digital library, hybrid library etc. There is now widespread application of ICT in the libraries. This transformation is so profound that application of ICT in libraries now forms part of minimum global standards in library organization (Obilade,(2003). 

Another important development in this regard is the development of automated acquisition system. Thus, ordering can be done via ICT especially the Information Superhighway (Internet) which contains electronic databases which can be subscribed to. This to a large extent does not follow the procedure of the traditional acquisition system. Automated acquisition system may not require the physical contact with the publishers/vendors or aggregators since all transactions can be done via the Internet. Most of the publishers/vendors have their Web - addresses and can easily be contacted. The availability on the Web of electronic databases, selection aids already mentioned, reading list and more sources makes acquisition process faster and more effective. Furthermore, libraries have access to online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC), Union Catalogue and bibliographic databases of the Web from which selections can be made and ordered for. 

Automated/Online Acquisitions System 

According to Adediji (2003), application of technological aids to facilitate and enhance services is prone to be referred to as mechanization. But when such aids lead to improvement of access to information in an information based system like libraries, it is more accepted as automation which presently in the corporate world is better known as information technology. Automated acquisition, therefore, is the application of ICT to acquisition processes. It eliminates manual handling of acquisition work, simplifies acquisition processes and offers fast and accurate transaction. All the manual processes stated under traditional acquisitions are now performed by computer except checking the materials physically -against the titles to ascertain the correctness of the materials supplied and to ensure that they are in good condition; stamping of the materials with ownership stamp and recording the accession numbers in accession register.. As observed by Nwalo (2003, the function of ICT in ordering system can be viewed under three levels all of which can go on simultaneously. The levels are: 

• Computer processing of specific routine tasks such as selection, bibliographic searching, preparation of reports. 
• Computer monitoring of the flow of bibliographic resources through the system based primarily on the maintenance of an in-process file.
• Computer assistance to management in scheduling workload, pinpointing problematic areas and reporting on performance. 

Nwalo (2003) further lists features of automated acquisition thus: 

• Database access for selection of bibliographic resources 
• Name/address file for publishers/book vendors.
• Purchase order writing - completion of purchase order form in the computer which can be printed and completed manually for offline transaction.
• Online ordering - electronic interface with publishers/suppliers for - procurement of bibliographic resources. Communication is facilitated by correspondence through e- mail or fax
• In-process file for bibliographic resources received and still undergoing processing before being passed to cataloguing department.
• Checking and Claiming - checking books on outstanding order in order file in the computer and writing to defaulting publishers/suppliers thus speeding up the claiming process.
• Receiving/Paying and Funds accounting - interface with the organization/institution accounting system. Records of payments kept in the computer file and used to crosscheck any invoice sent by the vendor. 
• Management information - provides acquisition statistics which guide management in decision making.
• Vendor monitoring - enhances acquisitions transaction with publishers/vendors.

It should be noted that online ordering is a key aspect of automated acquisitions. Nwalo (2003,) quoting Boss and Marcum (1981) outlines features of online acquisition:

Online databases 

Workflow in automated acquisitions is enhanced by the underlisted online databases.

• Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC): The Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) also known as Library Catalogue is the online database of a library. It is a public interface to the library's inventory e.g. Machine Readable Catalogue e.g. Library of Congress Machine Readable Catalogue (LC MARC), an online database of holdings of American Library of Congress. The electronic version is available for purchase. It allows libraries to select books that are already catalogued and shelve ready
• Union Catalogue: The Union catalogue reflects the holdings of a group of library. The purpose is to aid borrowing of books and reading materials among the institutions via inter library loan. The electronic/Web version of these union catalogues can be accessed online e.g. World Cat, which includes the holdings of over 90,000 libraries worldwide. 
• Bibliographic Database: There are a number of bibliographic databases such as Medline, ERIC, which index journal articles and other research data as well as a number of applications aimed at managing documents, photographs and other digitalized or digitally created items such as digital common and DSpace etc. 
• Institutional Repository: One major challenge associated with the New Age is licensing /ownership of information resources. Many publishers of digitally born resources especially e-journal prefer to license the use of their products rather than give it away on sale. This is subject to renewal and can be withdrawn. Furthermore, many publishers would not easily subscribe to the idea of their products being used in another format without adequate compensation. This poses a great obstacle towards effective acquisition of electronic resources. As a way out, experts have come up with the idea of institutional repository which is an online locus for collecting, organizing, preserving and disseminating research works of an institution such as theses / dissertations, journal articles, conference proceedings, works in progress etc. whether published or not to enable people have access to them. The idea of institutional repository is to overcome the barrier of licensing and any other restriction on the part of commercial publishers. 

The foregoing foster effectiveness of automated acquisition as libraries can easily have access to them for selection of desired titles that can be purchased or subscribed to online. 

Collection Development Websites 

The following websites can be contacted by libraries for acquisition of both electronic and print materials 

• Internet Book Information Centre (IBIC): http:www.internetbookinfo.com 
• BOOKWIRE: http://www.bookwire.com  
• AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com  
• Blackwell Publishers: http://www.blackwellpublishers.co.uk
• Baker and Taylor - library: http:www.btd.com/library.com
• Ingram Library Services: http://www.ingramlibrary.com 
• ACKWEB has extensive directory of publishers and vendors on the WEB
• EBSCO is an aggregator of full text content, providing online databases via EBSCO host to libraries http://www.ebsco.com 

The underlisted group works in partnership with organizations to provide book support for education and library programme in developing countries mainly Africa. 

• Book Aid International: http://www.bookaid.org
• Books of Africa: http://www.bookforafrica.org   
• Brother’s Brother Foundation: http://www.brothersbrother.com/donate.html   
• Internal Book Bank: http://www//www/loc.gov/loc/cfbook/coborglibb.html 

Benefits of Automated Acquisitions 

• It fosters effectiveness of collection development of the library as simplifies acquisition process thus making it less difficult and cumbersome. 
• It is time saving in performance of task. 
• Enhances control of library activities especially those that are routing and repetitive in nature. 
• Enable the library to offer enhanced services on account of effective collection fostered by automated acquisition. 
• It is cost effective as it facilitates easy contact with publishers/ vendors through correspondence by e-mail. 
• Provides online access to library catalogue and selection aids from which books can be selected. 
• Save shelving space for libraries as a significant proportion of the serial and reference collections can be on CD - Rom. 
• Reduces incidence of book theft, mutilation. 

Nigerian Situation 

Nigerian libraries face a number of problems in respect of computerized acquisition system: 

• Underdeveloped ICT: Nigerian belongs to Third World countries, noted for its low - level ICT development. In fact on can count on one's fingertip the number of institutions / establishments that are fully automated. The digital divide is well pronounced in the country. The situation makes it difficult for Nigerian libraries to embark on sustainable automaton projects. This is because the project requires various ICT gadgets, some of which must be replaced from time to time with better ones e.g. hardware, software, networking etc Furthermore, automaton experts required to man the various automaton projects are few. 
• Finance: Automaton with networking project is very expensive. The various ICT equipment are foreign- based and capital intensive. Nigerian libraries are poorly funded to acquire those equipment. Even when some of them succeed in doing that, they find it difficult to maintain them. This situation coupled with the need for training and retraining of staff in ICT to enhance their capacity building in addition to employing ICT specialists makes it too expensive for libraries to cope with.
• Power Supply: Sustainable automaton project for effective acquisition system requires stable power supply. Epileptic power supply is harmful to some of the ICT gadgets. It is therefore imperative for libraries to deploy alternative energy to boost power supply 
• Publishing Industry: The Nation’s publishing industry should be revitalized and strengthened for production of high quality books in both print and electronic formats at affordable prices. The high cost of raw materials leading to exorbitant prices of published works is having its toll on the industry. Hence the fall in the sale of published works as many Nigerians cannot afford them. 

Way forward 

• There is need for improvement in the funding of libraries to enable them to develop virile collection to meet the information needs of their users. 
• Various tiers of government must accord library development top priority to foster quality education in Nigeria. They need to support various automaton projects of libraries for quality information provision. 
• Nigerian libraries need to explore alternative means of funding themselves. They should seek assistance in cash and kinds to boost their services. 
• Strengthening the nation’s publishing industry so that books both in print and electronic formats can be published and subscribed to at affordable costs. 

Conclusion 

Acquisition is a very essential component of collection development in libraries. It is the known gateway to effective library service. Advances in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have greatly transformed all aspects of library services including acquisition. However, some aspects of the acquisition are still done manually. 

 All these problems need to be addressed by all stakeholders in library and educational development to enhance library service in Nigeria. 

REFERENCES  

Adediji, O. O. (2003) : Automation in the 20th Century: role of Cataloguers. In Automation of Cataloguing Practices in Nigerian Libraries, Proceeding of selected papers presented at the various workshops of Nigerian Library Association, Cataloguing, Classification and Indexing Section. 

Nwalo, K. N. (2003): Fundamentals of library practice: a manual on library routine, Ibadan, Sterling- Horden Publishers (Nig.) Ltd.

Obilade, A.O. (2003): The Nigerian Library Association Decree. In S.O. Olanlokun ed. Forty Years of Library Services. Nigerian Library Association. 

Ode, E.O. & Omokaro, D.A. (2007.) Basic principles and practice of librarianship. 

Odogwu, N.J. (2004): Collection development in libraries. In a compendium of papers presented at the national workshop course for Library Officers at Enugu. from 13th 16th July. 

Wikipedia Online Public Access Catalogue wikipedia.org./wiki/online_public_access_catalog