Book selection and acquisition: the role played by libraries between publishers, vendors and customers in university and public research institutes in Italy.

Abstract

Selection and acquisition have mostly been considered in international literature as a collateral aspect of Collection Development and many surveys have been carried out to assess library acquisitions, such as the evaluation of collections through comparisons with well-known bibliographic lists, users data regarding loans, user requests, etc. Recently a considerable number of publications have dealt with the evaluation of bibliographic sources on the Internet and the integration and interoperability of library management systems with vendor systems for selection and acquisition purposes. Considering the scant information and data regarding Italian libraries, the aim of the research was to describe and explore the situation in Italian university and public research libraries regarding selection and acquisition procedures with the focus on books. Taking into account the increasing importance of journals, this choice was dictated by many factors, such as the increasing cuts in funds for books, the intention to understand their role in the scientific environment, also considering the evolution of the electronic publishing sector. Moreover, the objectives were also to explore vendors operating on the Italian market, their policies and attitudes toward libraries and how they are coping with the tremendous changes in the sector: the Internet, the aggressive policies of publishers and the shifting of publishing from printed to the electronic format. The research followed a qualitative approach with the purpose of describing and exploring libraries. Therefore a questionnaire was drawn up. After carrying out a pilot test, it was sent to university and public research libraries all around the country. Although , due to the low rate of respondents, there were not sufficient quantitative data to develop a more complex analysis, some significant data could be analysed. At the same time, from 9 Vendors contacted 6 (Blackwell, Burioni, Casalini, Celdes, DEA and Esia) were interviewed using the technique of non-structured interviews. The conversations provided interesting information and suggestions on issues not previously considered, thanks also to the collaboration and the interest shown by vendors in the initiative. The interviews of two librarians, chosen in the scientific environment, provided more insight and additional information during the survey. After the analysis of data from the questionnaires and interviews and the following data processing, the findings were shown to the Key Informant, an expert in library management and electronic resources at the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Parma. From a comparison of the questionnaire and interviews issues emerged that would need more in-depth analysis, such as: acquisitions procedure integration, purchasing power of the structure and competence of actors, terms of contract with vendors. A stimulating question was proposed, “Why don’t librarians and vendors develop a path of collaboration and partnership so that both can cope with the aggressive policies of publishers? Moreover, collaboration is needed to keep up with innovations and to cope with fund reductions and lack of recognition the profession of a librarian receives.