The Ohio State University

A:   Remember to take advantage of Penny Pearson's UND option. You can refer undergraduate level approval books, including quality textbooks, to Penny for potential purchase on the UND2 fund. Although paid for by Penny, the book is housed in your location. This is an excellent way to stretch your approval funds -- and serve undergraduate and community needs for introductory level materials.

How to:

• Place a white "referral / rejection" streamer in the approval book to refer to Penny for possible purchase.
• Indicate refer to: UND
• Put your location and initials on the streamer because Penny must know who referred the book (ex: DL / HIS)
• Indicate why you didn't select the book (e.g. lower level, textbook, etc.)
• Add instructions (e.g. "If Penny doesn't buy, refer book back to Ted for LAT," or "Penny, this is an excellent lower-level textbook, will you fund it?", etc.)

  
  
  

A:   Collection managers use a variety of techniques when making this decision:

      [A printout listing previous editions held by OSUL is provided in approval books]

• Look at the printout. How long ago was the previous edition published?

• Check the pagination on the printout and in the approval book. Does the new edition contain the same or more pages?

• Check the publication date of the previous edition. (Example: 1996). Look at the bibliography in the approval book. Are most of the citations for books published before 1995? Or does the bibliography in the approval book cite new scholarship published between the date of the first edition and 2002?

• Look at the introduction or preface to see if it is dated. Does it have the date of the original edition? Or has original introductory material been written for the approval book?

• Look at the Item Record on the printout. How many times did the earlier edition circulate? Look at the date of the last circulation. Was it within the last 12 months? Are there multiple copies that all circulated?

• Look at the Item Record status for the previous edition. Is it still available? Is it missing or withdrawn?

It is probably an excellent use of your approval funds to buy an added edition on approval if some of these factors occur:

• the previous edition was substantially earlier

• the new edition cites scholarship that is up-to-date and contains new material

• previous editions in OSCAR are lost, missing, or stolen

• previous editions on OSCAR circulated, especially if the last circulation is relatively recent

You might choose not to purchase a subsequent edition on approval if some of these factors occur:

• Item Record in printout shows status of "available" but the previous edition has never circulated

• pagination is almost the same as earlier edition, bibliography cites no recent scholarship, and there is little circulation

• book appears to be a reprint, and the original edition is in OSCAR as "available," and has had little or no circulation

Rejecting added editions that patrons have shown limited interest in is one tactic to stretch your approval funds. It frees funds to purchase items that are more central to your collections and may generate higher interest and/or circulation. Since buying power is finite, each decision to purchase an item means an item of comparable cost cannot be purchased.