Collection Information for Library Liaison Officers
Each academic department has a designated person to act as their Library Liaison Officer (LLO). It is a voluntary role and the person selected to undertake the responsibilities is organised by the department. The obligations each department imposes on its LLO are entirely up to that department.
The expectation from the Library is that the LLO will be the primary point of contact in the department for all matters pertaining to the acquisition of library collection materials in the relevant subject area. This includes:
- the submission of recommendations for collection purchases on behalf of the department
- the co-ordination of special operations such as serials cancellation exercises or submissions for expensive acquisitions
- attendance at relevant meetings
- the circulation of information received from the Library to departmental staff members, e.g. publishers’ blurbs, monthly budget reports
Recommendations for purchase
Recommendations for purchase may be made through the relevant webforms available from Recommend an item for the Library.
- Book orders can also be sent by email to acquisitions@libr.canterbury.ac.nz, or written requests, annotated catalogues, blurbs or reviews can be sent by internal mail to the Resource Acquisition Team, Library Support Services.
- Requests for new subscriptions (for continuing resources, journals, databases etc) must be made through the Subscription Recommendation Form. These will be considered periodically within the context of budget constraints.
Departments are encouraged to send recommendations regularly throughout the year. Usually the final date for orders to be processed in any budget year is mid October. This allows sufficient time for the majority of items to be received by the Library before the budget is closed at the end of December. In November departmental budgets for the following year will be set up with preliminary amounts in each so that orders can be submitted against the next year’s budget. LLOs will be informed of these deadlines each year.
When the Library receives an ordered item, the item is catalogued and processed, and the LLO is notified by email of its arrival. If you don't hear about a book you've ordered in this way, it may be because a) we already hold the item, or b) the item is not currently available or not yet published (in which case we may try another supplier or hold onto the order for submission at a later date).
The item then goes onto the new books display. All Library users can request items on the Library Catalogue while they are on the new books display.
Budget information
Departmental book targets are allocated according to a formula. LLOs will be advised of their department’s allocations as soon as the targets are approved by the Library Committee at the beginning of the year.
Balance reports are distributed at the beginning of each month. Other reports providing more detailed information on expenditure and commitments are available on request.