Nonprofessionals are performing effectively in cataloging and related operations in five university libraries surveyed by means of a questionnaire and site interviews. Specific tasks assigned to nonprofessionals are described. Work organization, training and recruitment practices, and job conditions are important factors in the success of these programs. Comparative personnel practices and job-related benefits for professionals and nonprofessionals are outlined. Administrators in these libraries plan to extend the use of nonprofessionals in cataloging.
Unless the consequences of the blanket ordering of monographs on clerical acquisitions routines are anticipated and planned for, this method of procurement may increase the workload. If prompt interim control is desired, searching and typing are necessary, and it is less time-consuming to perform such operations from order recommendation slips than from books. The clerical aspects of fiscal control tend to be more complicated than with regularly ordered books, and handling returns consumes time. The increasing scope and promptness of LC cataloging suggest that libraries could sacrifice some measure of interim control, to that extent simplifying the processing of blanket order monographs.
This paper contends that titles received on blanket orders need not necessitate more costly and cumbersome routines, and suggestions for streamlining are offered. It concludes by advocating that approval plans as a means to procure books can save time and money.
The first comprehensive cooperative acquisitions program in the United States was the Farmington Plan to assure the existence in libraries of one copy of all important works published in. the world. The Seminars on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (S.ILALM) have experimented with numerous cooperative plans and supported the maintenance of the Latin American Cooperative Acquisitions Project (LACAP) by Slechert-Hafner, Inc., to satisfy the research needs of approximately fifty subscribing libraries which receive a copy of all current publications commercially available.
Many research libraries may be considering taking an inventory of their holdings to determine the accuracy of their collections. The experiences gained during the first one and one half years of the inventory currently underway at the Johns Hopkins University Library reflect the advantages of such a project.