Acquisitions Policies and Procedures

Bibliographers, sometimes called subject specialists, are affiliated with each academic department or program. The bibliographers provide coordination between Cowan-Blakley Library and the faculty and students in the University's academic departments.

Each academic department/discipline at the University of Dallas assigns a faculty member to serve as bibliographer for that department. The bibliographer is responsible for reviewing and requesting library materials on behalf of his/her academic department/discipline and submitting the requests to the Acquisitions Department.  

If you do not know your department bibliographer, ask your department chair or refer to the bibliographer list.

Collection Building

Bibliographers select and initiate orders for materials for the Cowan-Blakley Library's collection based on the Collection Development Policy Subject Statements which the library maintains and updates as necessary. They identify resources in all formats that are appropriate to support existing research and academic programs while maintaining a broad view of the collection and the long-term research needs of the academic community. Consultation and communication with their fellow teaching faculty about their present, and future, curricular and research needs are part of this process.

The selection process requires that bibliographers have knowledge of the academic subject areas in the University's curriculum, the ability to evaluate information resources in terms of their usefulness to the University, and an awareness of what is being published and otherwise available in their assigned subject areas.

Bibliographers may also be responsible for reviewing the collection in their subject field to identify materials to be sent to closed stack storage and those that should be withdrawn from the collection. They regularly evaluate continuations, i.e., standing orders and subscriptions to print and electronic journals and databases, and may recommend titles for cancelation due to fiscal or programmatic reasons.

Fiscal Management

Bibliographers oversee the portion of the acquisitions budget that relates to their assigned subject areas, managing spending within deadlines and fiscal limits as well as dealing with the requirements of special allocations. This aspect of the bibliographers' responsibilities requires they maintain contact with the Acquisitions Librarian and have an  understanding of both the Library's acquisition process and the fiscal issues related to scholarly communication.

Bibliographers work with their fellow faculty to understand the goals of their assigned departments and to ensure that the Library fulfills the information needs of both the faculty and students in each program. This involves consultation with colleagues about adding and/or canceling library resources as well as informing them of new services and resources  acquired by the Library.