Reinventing acquisition process of print books in university libraries

Abstract

The paper aims to find the best practices of print book procurement in select central university libraries in northern India, including getting maximum discounts and supply of ordered books, and empanelling vendors. Through online questionnaires, selected libraries' book procurement procedures have been surveyed. Further, acquisition staff were consulted, and websites were accessed to learn book procurement procedures at central universities. Data collected from select seven university libraries were recorded in Microsoft Excel worksheets, aggregated, and summarized to create consolidated datasets for analysis. It is found that five universities buy books from empanelled vendors by setting minimum and maximum discount rates on print books. Vendors are increasingly being asked for discount quotes through expressions of interest. University libraries don't seem to buy books through tendering process or through government e-market place (GeM).