SELECTION AND ACQUISITION: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE

TERMS

Accession number - numbers assigned to a book or item as it is received by the

library, through continuous numbering or a coded system

Acid-free paper - a paper that has a neutral or basic pH (7 or slightly greater). It can
be made from any cellulose fiber as long as the active acid pulp is eliminated during
processing; it is also lignin and sulfur free and addresses the problem of preserving
documents for long periods. (Wikipedia)

Analog Representations of information or data by some physically measurable

quantity. Analog cannot be processed by computers unless they are first translated into
digital format. (Johnson, 2004)

Antiquarian dealer - a dealer who handles older, frequently out-of-print books, which
probably have had one or more owners; also called second hand-dealer.

Appropriated funds These are funds that have been allocated to specific subject
areas for the current fiscal year as part of the library budget.

Approval plan - an agreement between a library and a supplier that allows the supplier
to automatically send the library one copy of each item on a specified subject or in a
particular format.

Audiovisual Materials - non-book materials such as film strips, recordings, films,

records, video and audiocassettes, CDs, etc. Sometimes these are just called AV.

Authentication A process that verifies the identity of a person or process, usually

through a user name and password. In security systems, authentication is distinct from
authorization. Authentication confirms that the individual is who he or she claims to be
but does not authorization. (Johnson, 2004)

Author - creator of an idea; one who is intellectually responsible for a written work

Authorization A process that gives or denies an individual access rights to a network

resource based o his or her identity, which often is matched against a directory with
various profiles granting various types of access. Most computer security systems are
based on a two-step process: authentication followed by authorization. (Johnson, 2004)

Back file or back run Issues of a periodical that precede the current issue. (Johnson,
2004)
Best books - A selection of recently published books considered by reviewers to be
superior in the field or the type of publication they represent. Most library review
publications publish annual lists of highly recommended titles in the various categories
reviewed (reference, fiction, nonfiction, young adult, children's books, etc.).
Recommended lists are also published in book form (ODLIS, 2002).

Bibliographic information details needed for ordering or requesting library material;

also termed as trade information.

Bibliographic utility An online service that provides a shared database of cataloging

records created by member libraries. The database may be used for copy cataloging,
interlibrary loan, selection, and bibliographic verification. (Johnson, 2004)

Bibliometrics - The use of mathematical and statistical methods to study and identify
patterns in the usage of materials and services within a library, or to analyze the
historical development of a specific body of literature, especially its authorship,
publication, and use. Prior to the mid-20th century, the quantitative study of
bibliographic data and usage was known as statistical bibliography (ODLIS, 2002).

Bibliopegy - The fine art of binding books by hand, performed by a bibliopegist

(bookbinder). (ODLIS, 2002).

Biennial - Issued every two years. Also refers to a serial publication issued every two
years.

Bill - see Invoice

Blanket order An agreement between a library and a dealer/vendor for the automatic
supply of one of more copies of all titles issued by publisher or of all titles within certain
subject areas.

Book lease plan - An acquisitions plan offered by some book jobbers which allows a
library or library system to lease an agreed upon number of popular fiction and
nonfiction titles, usually for a fixed monthly fee. After a prescribed period of time, or a
decline in demand, titles are returned for credit toward new books usually selected from
a monthly list provided by the jobber (example: McNaughton Plan). Because leased
books arrive fully cataloged and processed for circulation, some public libraries rely on
leasing plans for high-demand items. Leasing is also used in academic libraries with
limited space for a permanent collection of popular fiction and nonfiction (ODLIS, 2002).

Book Plate - A label pasted in a book to mark its ownership and sometimes to indicate
its location in a library.

Born digital originally created in digital format.

Bound - A term referring to pages, sheets or issues of periodicals which have been
covered by a binding, usually hardback, to create a single volume. This process is used
in libraries to preserve items for long-term use.

Bundling The practice of providing a group of serial titles to a library. Practice of

providing access to an online version packaged with subscription to the print version, or
vice versa (Johnson, 2009)

Caldecott Medal - A literary award given annually since 1938 under the auspices of the
American Library Association to the illustrator of the most distinguished children's
picture book published in the United States during the preceding year.

Carry forward - The amount of encumbered funds, which have not been disbursed at
the end of the fiscal year and are carried forward into the following fiscal year's
allocation.

Circulation analysis Examination of statistics compiled on the circulation of library

materials, usually broken down by classification, material type, category of borrower,
time of year, and so on to determine patterns of usage. (Johnson, 2004)

Citation analysis A bibliometrics technique that examines the works cited in

publications to determine patterns.

Claim - Any communication directed to an agent or source to hasten delivery of overdue

material.

Clearinghouse - An organization or unit within an organization that functions as a

central agency for collecting, organizing, storing, and disseminating documents, usually
within a specific academic discipline or field. It assists the research process by
maintaining records of information resources for referral. Examples include ERIC and
LOEX (ODLIS, 2002).

Collate to physically examine the material to determine whether it is a good and

complete copy.

Collection development - The process of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of

a library's information resources with respect to patron needs and community resources,
and of attempting to correct the weaknesses. It requires a continual examination and
evaluation of the library's resources. Further, it requires a constant study of patron
needs and changes in the community the library serves.

Collection management Proposed in the 1980s as a term under which collection

development was to be subsumed. It is collection development PLUS an expanded suite
of decisions about de-selection, cancellation of serials, storage and preservation.
Collection development and collection management tend to be used synonymously or in
tandem (Johnson, 2004)
Collection mapping Technique for graphically representing the strengths and
weaknesses of a library collection used primarily in school library media centers. The
categories of the collection map are usually based on the curricular needs of the school,
often presented through curriculum mapping (Johnson, 2009)

Commercial publisher - A publisher in the business of producing and selling books

and/or other publications for profit, as opposed to a university press or the publishing
arm of a scholarly society, professional association, or other nonprofit organization that
operates on a cost-recovery basis. The term includes trade publishers and popular
presses. In commercial publishing, the decision to publish is influenced by sales
potential, sometimes at the expense of originality and quality (ODLIS 2002)

Conservation Noninvasive physical or chemical methods employed to ensure the

survival of manuscripts, books and other documents. (Johnson, 2004)

Consortium Two or more libraries that have formally agreed to coordinate, cooperate
in, or consolidate certain functions. Consortia may be formed on a geographic, function,
type, format, or subject basis.

Conspectus - In libraries, a method of uniform collection assessment developed in

North America in 1979 to facilitate resource sharing. The system uses codes to survey
strengths, levels of difficulty, linguistic and geographical coverage, etc., recorded on
worksheets in subject areas based on Library of Congress Classification. In 1982, the
Research Libraries Group initiated the RLG Conspectus Online to provide electronic
access to data on the collections of research libraries in the United States. The system
was subsequently adopted by the Association of Research Libraries for its North
American Collection Inventory Project (NCIP). It has also been adapted by the National
Library of Canada and is used in the UK, Australia, and some European countries. In the
1990s, after the Western Library Network (WLN) developed PC software that enables
libraries to develop and maintain local collection assessment databases, use of RLG
Conspectus Online dwindled and the files were removed from RLIN in 1997 (ODLIS,
2002)

Contingency planning The process of preparing a plan of action to be put into effect
when prior arrangements become impossible or certain pre-established conditions arise.
(Johnson, 2009)

Cooperative acquisition a system whereby two or more libraries coordinate their

collection and purchase of new materials so as to avoid unneeded duplication. (ALA
Glossary, p.59)

Cooperative collection development sharing responsibilities among two or more

libraries for the process of acquiring materials, developing collections , and managing
the growth and maintenance of collections in a user and cost-beneficial way (Johnson,
2004)

Copyright - The exclusive right granted by a government to publish a work for a

specified number of years. The copyright protects the author and publisher by
preventing others from copying the work or a significant part of it without permission.

Core collection - A collection representative of the basic information needs of a

library's primary user group. In public libraries, core collections are selected in
anticipation of popular demand and maintained on the basis of usage. In academic
libraries, selection is based on curriculum need and collections are maintained to meet
the research interests of students and faculty. Also refers to an initial collection
developed for a new library, usually with the aid of standard lists and other selection
aids, one example is the Books for College Libraries: A Core

Collection... published by the American Library Association (ODLIS, 2002)

Credit memo A note issued by a vendor in place of cash refund on orders unfilled or
returned, to be deducted fro the total charge on the invoice.

Cumulation - The progressive inter-filing of items arranged in a predetermined order

and usually published in periodical form, the same order of arrangement being
maintained.

Desiderata - A list of wanted items which should be added to the collection upon
availability.

Differential pricing - The controversial practice of charging libraries a substantially

higher price for periodical subscriptions than the amount an individual subscriber is
required to pay, which some journal publishers claim is justified because a library
subscription makes the publication available to more readers, an effect known in the
publishing trade as pass-along. Also refers to the practice in Europe of charging North
American subscribers a rate substantially higher than normal, presumably because they
can afford to pay more (ODLIS, 2002)

Digital Of, pertaining to, or using digits, that is, numbers. Computers are digital
machines because, at their most basic level, they distinguish between two values 0 and
1, or off and on. (Johnson, 2004).

Digital materials Both digital surrogates created by converting analog materials to

digital format and born digital materials for which there is no analog equivalent.
(Johnson, 2004)

Digital rights management (DRM) is a term for access control technologies that are
used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to limit
the use of digital content and devices. The term is used to describe any technology that
inhibits uses of digital content that is not desired or intended by the content provider.
(Wikipedia)

Digitization The process of converting analog materials to digital format (Johnson,

2004)

Disbursing - A bookkeeping procedure that pays for an item from encumbered funds.

Document delivery The provision of documents upon request. Commercial document

delivery services charge a fee to provide libraries or individuals with the requested item.
The commercial service usually manages payments to publisher for copying rights.
(Johnson, 2004)

E-book a literary work in the form of a digital object consisting of one or more unique
identifiers, metadata, and a monographic body of content, intended to be published and
accessed electronically (Johnson, 2004)

E-Journal - A Periodical that is available in an electronic or computerized form such as

on the Web or on CD-ROM.; an abbreviated term for electronic journal.

Encumbering - A bookkeeping procedure that commits a given amount of money to the

payment of an order. Each time an order is placed an amount of money (encumbrance)
equal to the total price of all items in that order is deducted from the free balance.

Endowment - A permanent fund accumulated by an institution over an extended period

of time, consisting of gifts and bequests invested to provide an ongoing return, all or a
portion of which is expended, sometimes for purposes specified by the donor(s), leaving
the principal intact to generate further income (ODLIS, 2002).

Escapist literature - Fiction written as light entertainment, intended mainly to divert

the mind of the reader into a world of imagination and fantasy. Popular genres include
romance, science fiction, thrillers, etc.

Facsimile edition An exact copy of a book made photographically, by photocopy or

by an offset press

Fair use - Conditions under which copying a work, or a portion of it, does not
constitute infringement of copyright, including copying for purposes of criticism,
comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research (ODLIS, 2002).

Farmington Plan A plan drawn up at Farmington, Connecticut by K. D. Metcalf, J.P.

Boyd and Achibald McLeish. Its object, since it operation began in January 1948, has
been to ensure the presence and availability in some library of the United States of one
copy of each book of research value published in foreign countries.

Firm order The most common method for acquiring materials that the library knows it
wants; used when ordering on a per title basis.
 Forthcoming Books - Provides author, price, publication date and publishers for very
new American books, and for books that will be published in the near future. Information
is often given for books that BIP does not list or which are listed as not yet published.
(Acronym: FCB.)

Government Documents - Monographs, serial publications, reports, or official

communication published by any public governing body--federal, state, county, or
municipal.

Gray literature - Printed works such as reports, internal documents, PhD dissertations,
master's theses, and conference proceedings, not usually available through regular
market channels because they were never commercially published, listed, or priced.

Greenaway Plan - A form of blanket order plan in which a large library or library
system agrees to receive from a publisher for a nominal price one advance copy of all
the trade books it publishes, to encourage acquisitions librarians to order selected titles
in advance of publication. The publisher relies on the probability that enough titles will
be ordered in multiple copies to cover its costs. The plan is named after Emerson
Greenaway, the librarian at the Philadelphia Free Library who conceived the idea in
1958.

In-process file a file of bibliographic items which have been received but for which
cataloging and physical processing have not been completed. (ALA Glossary, p.119)

Intellectual property - Tangible products of the human mind and intelligence, entitled
to the legal status of personal property, especially works protected by copyright,
inventions which have been patented, and registered trademarks. An idea is considered
the intellectual property of its creator only after it has been recorded or made manifest
in specific form (ODLIS, 2002).

Interlibrary loan - A service to obtain from other libraries, books and journals which
the library does not own and which patrons have requested.

Invoice - a commercial document issued by a seller to the buyer, indicating the

products, quantities, and agreed prices for products or services the seller has provided
the buyer. (Wikipedia)

ISBD - Acronym for International Standard Bibliographic Description; a standardized

format for descriptive bibliographic information compatible for computer input.

ISBN - Acronym for International Standard Book Number. A unique ten-digit or

thirteen-digit number divided into parts, which must be printed on the verso of the title
page, or any other prominent position.
ISO (International Standard Organization) A network of national standards
institutes from 140 countries working in partnership with international organizations,
governments, industry, and business and consumer representatives. (Johnson, 2004)

ISSN - Acronym for International Standard Serial Number. A unique eight-digit number
assigned to each serial title published.

Jobber A wholesale bookseller/dealer who serves as middleman between the

publisher and library or retail bookseller.

Journals consortium - An organization that handles the production and distribution of

a number of journals, but does not necessarily exercise editorial control over them if
they are owned by other organizations. In the United States, perhaps the best-known
example is the journals publishing division of the Johns Hopkins University Press which
provides online access through Project MUSE to the full-text of its own journals, plus
sixty titles from other scholarly publishers (ODLIS, 2002).

JSTOR Nonprofit organization that provides searchable bibliographic databases

containing the complete full-text back files of core scholarly journals in a wide range of
disciplines, current to two to five years (Johnson 2009). This was Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation aimed at providing libraries with back issues of important journals in
electronic form.

Lease A contract by which one party grants access to or the use of real estate,
equipment, or a resource for the specified term and for a specified amount to another
party. (Johnson, 2004)

License or licensing agreement Permission to do something that, without such

permission, would be illegal. A license is a contract that presents the terms under which
a vendor grants the library the rights to use one or more proprietary bibliographic
databases or online resources, usually for a fixed period of time in exchange for
payment (Johnson, 2004)

Line-item budget - A method of budgeting used in some libraries and library systems
in which anticipated expenditures are divided into discrete functional categories called
"lines" (salaries and wages, materials, equipment, etc.) for the purpose of systematically
allocating resources and tracking operating expenditures.

List price The publishers price for materials being sold before discounts are applied.

Literary agent - An organization or person in the business of offering professional

advice to writers on the suitability of manuscripts for publication. An agent may also
provide guidance and/or assistance in locating and selecting a publisher, negotiating a
book contract, arranging the sale of subsidiary rights, and handling the business of
authorship in general, usually in exchange for a commission paid by the author, or a
portion of the proceeds derived from the work. A literary agent may also act on behalf of
a publisher to find works to fill a specific need. Not all authors use an agent--some
prefer to deal directly with the publisher. Directory information for literary agents is
available in the reference serials Literary Market Place and Writer's Market (ODLIS,
2002).

Metadata Literally, data about data; used for different purposes. (1) Resource
description or resources discovery metadata serves to identify and locate a piece of
information. Library cataloging is one specific use of a subset of resource discovery
metadata; Dublin Core is an example of this descriptive metadata. The Dublin Core
contains a rights element as well as descriptive elements. (2) Rendering is the process
of realizing a specific information object on the users computer. To do this, the
receiving computer needs technical information, transmitted by metadata, about the
characteristics of the object. For example, the need to open Adobe Acrobat to access
web-based document is conveyed in metadata imbedded in that document in the file
extension. (3) Rights management refers to the ownership of content and the right of
user to carry out any operation on that information object. This may involve making a
payment to the owner of the right, or the operation (viewing, downloading, printing)
may be carried out free of charge under an existing license agreement (Johnson, 2004)

Monographic series A group of individual monographs that have a collective title

applying to the group as a whole. Monographic series may be numbered or
unnumbered; publication is expected to continue indefinitely (Johnson, 2004)

Newbery Medal - A literary award given annually since 1922 under the auspices of the
American Library Association to the author of the most distinguished children's book
published in the United States during the preceding year. Sponsored by the family of
Frederic G. Melcher, the medal is named after John Newbery (1713-1767), the British
publisher who first published books written specifically for children (ODLIS, 2002).

OCLC or Online Computer Library Center The largest bibliographic utility in the
world, providing cataloging and acquisitions services, serials and circulation control,
interlibrary loan support, and access to online databases. OCLC maintains OCLC
WorldCat, an online bibliographic database or member records and holdings (Johnson,
2004)

Offprint - A copy of an article published in a periodical, specially reprinted for the

author's use, but retaining the numbering of the issue from which it was taken. (From
Harrod's...Glossary) Sometimes called a Separate. See Also Preprint, Reprint.

OP: Acronym for out-of-print - Designates that a book is no longer available from the
publisher. Vendors will cancel items with this designation or search the op market for
them. The Acquisitions Department maintains a Desiderata file to search for some titles,
which have been declared op.
Out-of-stock Stock exhausted at the publishers, but another printing is expected.

Outsourcing The contracting of library services formerly performed in-house to an

outside service provider. Examples of outsourcing are conservation and preservation
(particularly binding and reformatting), purchasing catalog records in machine-readable
forms, purchasing cataloging for foreign language materials, and acquisitions plans
(approval plans, blanket orders, subscription agents, etc.) (Johnson, 2004)

Packing slip -: Usually enclosed with the items being shipped or attached to the
outside of the package. It may be a copy of the invoice or other notification that
indicates the date and number of items shipped and the invoice number, but does not
include the prices.

Popular press - A publishing house that issues publications for the mass market, sold
at news stands and in supermarkets and chain stores (ODLIS, 2002)

Posting The transfer of debit and credit information from a journal to the proper
account in the ledger.

Preprint - A portion of a work printed and issued before the publication of the complete
work. A paper submitted at a conference which is published prior to the holding of the
conference. (From Harrod's...Glossary) See Also Reprint, Offprint.

Preservation a broad range of activities intended to prevent, retard, or stop

deterioration or materials or to retain the intellectual content of materials no longer
physically intact (Johnson 2004)

Private press - A small printing establishment, often operated by a single person,

offering limited editions at the discretion of the owner. The results are usually of fine
quality and, when offered for sale, may not be distributed through regular market
channels (ODLIS, 2002).

Proforma An invoice received for checking an approval prior to receipt of formal

invoice; used as checklist for materials ordered; a vendor report code for an item, which
the vendor had to prepay before they could order it; also, an invoice type for an order
prepaid by the Library.

Profile (1) Description prepared by a library for a publisher or agent who supplies
materials on an approval plan or through a blanket order. The profile usually describes
subject areas, levels of specialization and difficulty, languages, series, formats, price
ranges, and so on. (2) A demographic study of the community served by a library or
library system which measures economic, social and education variables (Johnson,
2004)
Provenance The history of ownership of book or other library material. This is
particularly important when the item is previously owned by a noted collected or an
important individual.

Providers Individuals and entities providing access to information and delivery of

services; includes traditional print and electronic scholarly publishers, trade publishers,
information aggregators, vendors, and other electronic-only information disseminators
(Johnson, 2004)

Publisher - The person, firm or corporate body undertaking the responsibility for the
issue of a book or other printed matter to the public.

Publishers Weekly (PW) - The weekly trade journal of the American publishing
industry since 1872, includes news and announcements, author interviews, advance
book reviews, articles about book production, and analysis of trends of interest to
publishers, librarians, booksellers, and others involved in the book trade. It is published
by Cahners Business Information, a division of Elsevier (ODLIS, 2002).

Publishing - The art of making and selling books and other knowledge products such as
music, art reproductions, photographs and maps. (International Encyclopedia of
Information and Library Science, 1997)

Purchase order an official order record authorizing a dealer or vendor to deliver

materials or services as a set price. This becomes a contract upon acceptance by the
dealer or vendor. The basic components standard to most purchase orders include:
unique purchase order number, dealer or vendor name and address, description of items
ordered, quantity ordered, price per item and totals, fund to be charged, delivery
address and instructions, time frame to complete order, shipping terms, discount or
credit terms and the name and address of the ordering agency. (ALA Glossary, p. 183)

Remote access Access and use of a digital content from a location other than where
the information is physically located or the primary site identified in a contact (Johnson,
2009)

Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN) - An information management and

retrieval system consisting of an online union catalog of the holdings of members of the
Research Libraries Group (RLG) combined with the English Short Title Catalog (ESTC)
and authority files. RLIN contains over 88 million records and is used by hundreds of
libraries, archives, and museums for cataloging, interlibrary loan, and control of
manuscript and archival collections (ODLIS, 2002).

Royalty - Monetary reward received by an author for the work done based on a fixed
percentage on the number of copies sold, less returns.
Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) - An
international alliance of approximately 200 universities, research libraries, and library
associations, SPARC was created in 1998 by several Association of Research Libraries
(ARL) directors to address the pricing practices and policies of scientific, technical, and
medical (STM) journal publishers. The coalition seeks to educate faculty on academic
serials issues, fosters competition in the scholarly communication market, and advocates
fundamental changes in the system and culture of scholarly communication (ODLIS,
2002).

Serial - Any publication issued in successive parts, appearing at intervals, usually

regular ones, and, as a rule, intended to be continued indefinitely. The term includes
Periodicals, newspapers, annuals, numbered monographic series and the proceedings,
transactions and memoirs of societies. (From Harrod's...Glossary)

Series - A number of separate works, usually issued in succession, and usually related
to one another in subject or form, issued by the same publisher, and in uniform style.
The collective series title may appear at the head of the title page, on the half-title page,
or on the cover.

Small press - A small publisher of comparatively limited resources, functioning

independently of the publishing "establishment" and consequently more likely to issue
works outside the cultural mainstream. Most small presses employ fewer than a dozen
people and publish no more than 20-30 new titles per year (ODLIS, 2002).

Standing order Order sent by supplier for materials to the library for purchase as it is
published unless otherwise notified. It is usually used for a series of related items that
are produced over a long period of time.

Subject specialist Librarian responsible for selecting materials, managing a

collection, and providing bibliographic instruction and reference services to users in a
specific academic discipline or field of study (Johnson, 2009)

Statement of account billing; notices of paid and unpaid invoices from the vendor.

Subscription - An agreement between a library and a publisher or vendor to supply a

serial title (e.g. an annual, a quarterly, etc.) to be renewed and prepaid annually until
canceled.

Textbook - An edition of a book specifically intended for the use of students enrolled in
a course of study or in preparing for an examination on a subject or in an academic
discipline, as distinct from the trade edition of the same title, sometimes published in
conjunction with a workbook, lab manual, and/or teacher's manual. Also refers to the
standard work used for a specific course of study, whether published in special edition or
not.
Til forbidden a term used by jobbers to indicate that a subscription for a serial is to
be placed for a library and that renewals are to be made automatically until library
decide to cancel the subscription.

Tracking fund - Used to track the amount of money spent for items in a subject area
from an account other than their own. For example, gift funds are often used to
purchase items from a variety of subject areas. Tracking funds allow us to see how
much money was used to purchase items that fall in a specific subject area.

Trade books books published by commercial publishers, both textbooks and technical
in treatment.

Trade catalog - A list of all the books (currently in print), published in a specific
country or in other countries for which domestic publishers act as agents (example:
Books in Print). Also, any publication that lists and describes the products manufactured
and sold by a commercial company, with prices, illustrations, and information on how to
order, for use in sales. The publisher's catalogs sent by post to booksellers and libraries
are a prime example. Some booksellers also publish their own trade catalogs for
distribution to potential retail customers, or make catalog information available on the
Web (example: Amazon.com).

Trade Journal - A Periodical that publishes news and other items of interest for a
particular trade or industry.

Trade publisher - A publishing house that issues books of interest to the educated
reader, for sale in college and quality retail bookstores (example: Farrar, Straus and
Giroux or St. Martin's Press). Few large trade publishers remain independent. A case in
point is Alfred A. Knopf, now owned by Random House, which is in turn owned by the
international publishing and entertainment conglomerate Bertelsmann AG. (ODLIS,
2002)

Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory - An annual reference serial published

since 1932 by R. R. Bowker, provides bibliographic information and pricing for a
classified list of over 164,000 regularly and irregularly issued periodicals currently
published in the U.S. and internationally, including titles available electronically. The
directory is indexed by title and ISSN, with separate sections for cessations, title
changes, refereed journals, and titles available in various digital formats. It is also
available on CD-ROM and online by licensing agreement.

University press - A publishing house associated with a university or other scholarly

institution, specializing in the publication of scholarly books and journals, particularly
works written by its faculty (example: Johns Hopkins University Press). Most university
presses operate on a nonprofit basis, relying on a committee of senior faculty members
to select manuscripts for publication.
Vanity publisher - A type of publisher, more common in the United States than in
other countries, that specializes in producing books at the author's expense, used mainly
by writers whose works have been rejected by commercial publishers, and by individuals
of private means who are convinced they have an important message to impart to the
world. In England, vanity publishing is used primarily for poetry. Books published by
vanity publishers are avoided by reviewers and rarely purchased by retail booksellers
and libraries, also synonymous with vanity press (ODLIS, 2002). .

Vendor - An organization whose business is to buy direct from the publishers. They are
often able to offer libraries price discounts, free shipping, and approval plans, ex. YBP.

Volume - This word is used to describe two different materials: 1) A series of printed
sheets, bound, typically, in book form, or 2) An arbitrary number of consecutive issues
of a periodical.

Voucher - A form that verifies a business transaction as correct, authorizes its entry
into the books, and approves payment of charges.

Wholesaler - A person who sells large quantities to retailers (Evans, 1987)

Zero-base budget (ZBB) - A financial plan that starts from zero at the beginning of
each new budget cycle, with no assumptions carried over from previous experience.
Under this budgeting method, every expense must be justified (ODLIS, 2002).

zine A small circulation, narrowly focused, often irregular, noncommercial magazine,

newsletter or newspaper, self-published by one person or a small group and usually not
available by subscription (Johnson, 2004)