*Apologies in advance for duplicate postings.*

ALCTS Web Course: Fundamentals of Acquisitions
Next session: November 18 – December 13, 2013

This four-week online course is a basic primer for library acquisitions concepts common to all library materials formats. It covers:

·         Goals and methods of acquiring monographs and serials in all formats;

·         Theoretical foundations and workflows of basic acquisitions functions;

·         Financial management of library collections budgets;

·         Relationships among acquisitions librarians, library booksellers, subscription agents, and publishers.


This course provides a broad overview of the operations involved in acquiring materials after the selection decision is made.

In FOA, we distinguish between collection development, which involves the selection of materials for the library; and acquisitions, which orders, receives, and pays for those materials. In many libraries, selecting and acquiring materials may be done in the same department—in the smallest libraries perhaps even by the same person. In larger libraries, selection may be done by a collection development department and/or designated subject specialists, while a separate department acquires the selected materials.  In essence, acquisitions is a business operation, bringing materials into the library and licensing access to library collections and resources.

Who should attend:  As a fundamentals course, FOA is tailored for librarians and paraprofessionals new to the acquisitions field; and librarians and support staff from other library units and library school or LSSC students who want to know more about acquisitions.  Although FOA focuses on the acquisition of monographs in various physical formats, it covers key components of acquisition and licensing processes for all library materials, in all formats, in all types of libraries.

This course is one-third of the Collection Management Elective course approved by the Library Support Staff Certification Program (LSSCP).

Registration Fees:  $109 ALCTS Member and  $139 Non-member

For additional details, registration links, and contact information see: http://www.ala.org/alcts/confevents/upcoming/webcourse/foa/ol_templ

For questions about registration, contact ALA Registration by calling 1-800-545-2433 and press 5 or email registration@ala.org. For all other questions or comments related to web courses, contact Julie Reese, ALCTS Events Manager at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 5034 or alctsce@ala.org.

Posted on behalf of the ALCTS Continuing Education Committee.