Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery

Liaisons' FAQ

• What are the duties of the Liaison?
• When are the fiscal year 2007/2008 ordering deadlines?
• How do Liaisons place orders?
• How do other people place orders?
• Why worry about things already owned by other USMAI libraries?
• What are priority levels? When and how should I use them?
• How do I request an item for reserves?
• What do I do if I can't log in to the World Wide Web book request system?
• How do I know when a book is in the library? How do other people in my department find out?
• When I send an order to Acquisitions, when will it be placed? When will the book get here?
• How do I monitor my department's spending?
• What are all these notices that Acquisitions sends me? What am I supposed to do with them?
• What are the roles of Collection Management, Serials, and Acquisitions in the ordering process? Which department do I contact with other questions?

What are the duties of the liaison?

The liaisons selects and orders library materials in support of the curricular and research needs of their department. The liaison approves all book and media requests placed by or for their department. The liaison monitors its department's spending and distributes slips notifying other faculty in their department of the status of items which they've requested.

When are the fiscal year 2007/2008 ordering deadlines?

• December 7, 2007: 60% of funds must be encumbered.
• February 29, 2008: 100% of funds must be encumbered (unused funds will be re-allocated to other departments).

How do liaisons place orders?

Use the online "Library Book Request Form" on the World Wide Web. Login to the World Wide Web book request system at http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/bookorder/bookapprove.php. If you are not logged in to the system when you place orders, you'll have to log in later to approve them. Click on "Order a Book". Fill out the form as completely as possible then click "Send Request Now".

You may also place orders using an approval plan on Blackwell North America's Collection Manager website at http://cm.Blackwell.com Electronic approval plan orderings is an extremely efficent method of ordering because all of the information is provided for you, completely eliminating the need for both filling out forms and finding books to order. For information on this, contact Robin Moskal, the Collection Management Librarian, at X5-2341 or at Moskal@umbc.edu. For in depth instructions go to http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/collmanagement/cmbna.php. A briefer version of the Collection Manager instructions is available at http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/collmanagement/cmbna.php.

How do other people place orders?

Others in your department can place orders through the World Wide Web by going directly to the "Library Book Request Form" at http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/bookorder/bookreq.php. They should fill out the form as completely as possible and retain a record of the order. You will be notified that there are requests waiting. You must approve those orders by logging in to the World Wide Web book request system at http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/bookorder/bookapprove.php. You retain access to all of these orders through the World Wide Web system, so you need not retain any copies of them.

As your department's Library Liaison, you must authorize all of your department's orders. This allows you to monitor and control your department's spending, and, when necessary, to prioritize your department's orders.

Why worry about things already owned by other USMAI libraries?

Since we have a very small book budget, we are extemely limited in the number of books we can buy. However, all UMBC faculty, staff, and students can borrow books from any of the sixteen USMAI libraries and have them delivered to the library here very quickly (with no charge to the patron or the library). By relying on this service for non-core materials, we can stretch our budget further while purchasing unique materials that aren't available for quick delivery from USMAI libraries. This substantially expands the depth and the breadth of the materials readily available for our use.

What are priority levels? When and how should I use them?

By assigning a priority level to your orders, you can let Library Acquisitions know which orders are most important to you. This allows Acquisitions to make sound decisions when prioritizing, queuing, or backlogging orders in order to best meet your needs.

You may choose any of three priority levels for orders:

1. Rush orders are usually placed within one or two working days and the items usually arrive within a month. Use this for items needed in 1-2 months. Items purchased this way usually cost more.
2. Priority orders are usually placed within 2 weeks and the items usually arrive within 3 months. Use this for items needed in 3-6 months.
3. Collection Building orders are also usually placed within 2 weeks, but may take much longer. The items also usually arrive in 3-6 months, but may take longer. Use this for quality items for the Library collection.

In order to assign a priority level to your order:

On World Wide Web orders, click the button for the appropriate level when entering your order. If you don't assign a level, your order will automatically be assigned the lowest priority level, "Collection Building".

In Collection Manager, type "Rush" or "Priority" as appropriate in the note field. If you don't assign a level, your order will automatically be assigned the lowest priority level.

How do I request an item for reserves?

Do not submit orders for materials for reserves through the Web Order System. Reserve requests for books should be ordered through the reserves website at http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/reserves/. If the item needs to be ordered, Library Circulation or Library Media staff will submit the order to Library Acquisitions.

Items purchased for Reserve via Library Circulation or Library Media are not charged against your department's funds. However, if you submit Reserve requests directly to Acquisitions as approved orders for your department, your department will usually be charged for the items.

What do I do if I can't log in to the World Wide Web book request system?

If you forgot your password or don't have a password, call or e-mail Michelle Flinchbaugh at x5-6754, flinchba@umbc.edu, or Robin Moskal at x5-3812, moskal@umbc.edu. If you get an error, also call Michelle or Robin. Errors are usually caused by the system being down.

How do I know when a book is in the library? How do other people in my department find out?

Liaisons are always notified when we receive items that were ordered on their department's funds.
Other faculty in your department normally are not notified when items they requested arrive in the library. We recommend that you work out a method of disbursing this information within your department.

We do provide two special services. Request either of these services by either clicking the appropriate button on the web order form or by putting a "library note" in your request when ordering the Collection Manager Approval Plan.

Notify: A slip is sent to the requester indicating that the item is now in the library. These slips are usually sent daily, so they provide much faster notice than the slips that are normally sent to liaisons. Please note that liaisons always receive notification of ALL items purchased on their department's fund regardless of whether or not notify is on the order.

Hold: The item does not go to library stacks for general use. Instead it is held at the Circulation Desk. A notice is sent to the requestor indicating that the item is now in the library and on hold for him/her. If not picked-up and checked-out within 14 days the item will be moved to the stacks for general use.

When I send an order to Acquisitions, when will it be placed? When will the book get here?

Rush orders are always placed within one or two working days of their arrival in Acquisitions. Processing of other orders depends on the time of the year:

Mid Sept. through the ordering deadline (February 29, 2008): So long as your department has funds, priority orders will normally be placed within two weeks of arriving in Acquisitions. Collection Building orders will also usually be placed within two weeks of arriving in Acquisitions, but may occasionally be queued because of staffing shortages or other special circumstances. Items usually arrive within three months, but Collection Building orders may take substantially longer.

Ordering deadline through June: All library funds are encumbered and orders are normally queued until the new fiscal year. Priority orders go to the front of your department's ordering queue and Collection Building orders go to the back.

July-Mid Sept.: Queued orders are placed. Your priority orders are given preference while your Collection Building orders go to the end of the queue.

Please do not assume that any items ordered in the spring will be available in time for fall classes. Because we are queuing orders after February, they may not be placed until late summer and not arrive before fall classes begin.

How do I monitor my department's spending?

The Acquisitions Librarian is responsible for monitoring all departmental book funds. When your money is gone, no further orders will be placed for your department. Orders will be queued for ordering in the next fiscal year. You will want to have some money left for Spring orders, but you may lose any funds not encumbered by the ordering deadline (February 27, 2007). If you're saving money for something special you want to get after the deadline, you should let the Acquisitions Librarian (Michelle Flinchbaugh, x6754) know so that your money won't be spent. Extensions are sometimes granted to allow departments to encumber all their funds, but the more time that passes from the ordering deadline, the more likely it becomes you will lose your funds.

Every month you will receive a "Library Materials Encumbrance Report" which will indicate "encumbrance to date" (the total cost of all items currently on order) and "expenditures to date" (how much money you've spent). These numbers are added together to get "total commitment to date". Your department's allocation minus the commitment to date is how much you currently have to spend, or the "free balance".

For a number of reasons, sometimes the numbers on these reports will not be exactly what you thought they should be. The most common reason is that we receive substantial discounts from our vendors, so items will cost less than you thought they would. Another common reason is that some of your orders have been returned because they are already in the library. Sometimes your orders simply won't have been placed yet. Please direct any questions to the Acquisitions Librarian, Michelle Flinchbaugh, at x6754.

Sometimes your free balance will be in brackets, which means it's negative. We normally over-encumber funds by 10%, which allows for all of your money to be spent despite some items not coming in and being paid for in the current fiscal year.

What are all these notices that Acquisitions sends me? What am I supposed to do with them?

Check these slips to insure that all of your orders have been placed and that no unwanted items have been ordered on your department's funds. Distribute them (or photocopies) to the requestor so he/she knows the status of their orders.

Notices stamped "Ordered" indicate that the the Acquisitions Department has processed and placed your order.

Notices stamped "Now in Library" indicate the item you ordered has arrived and is now on the library shelves.

Notices stamped "Already in Library" indicate that the item you ordered is already in our library so your order won't be placed.

Notices stamped "Already on Order" indicate that the item you ordered is already on order.

Notices stamped "Already owned by another USM Library" indicate that the item you ordered is already in a USMAI Library so your order won't be placed. You can prevent orders from coming back to you for this reason by using the "Order for UMBC even if owned by another USM Library" box on the book purchase recommendation form.

Notices of various problems with orders. Often these will include questions about what action you would like us to take.

What are the roles of Collection Management, Serials, and Acquisitions in the ordering process? Which department do I contact with other questions?

Collection Management: http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/collmanagement/

• Provides direct support to faculty and liaisons in selecting library materials.
• Offers training and assistance in using the library’s ordering systems.
• Shapes the library collection by establishing purchasing policies and adjusting departmental allocations for one-time and database purchases.

Serials: http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/serials/

• Provides direct support to faculty in selecting and de-selecting library journal subscriptions at the beginning of each academic year.
• Manages library subscriptions by insuring that items on subscription arrive and by claiming missing items.
• Shapes the library collection by establishing purchasing policies and adjusting departmental allocations for subscription purchases.
• Maintains departmental serial fund balances.

Acquisitions: http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/acquisitions/

• Supports other library departments and programs such as reserves and media.
• Manages purchasing of requested library materials, including books, media, and scores.
• Maintains departmental monographic fund balances.