ACQUISITION POLICY AND PRACTICES AT THE BRITISH LIBRARY LENDING DIVISION

The acquisitions policies of the Division are based on a consideration of a number of criteria—academic level, demand, availability and speed of supply from elsewhere, and country of publication. Only ‘worthwhile’ literature is collected, and apart from the serials area where a comprehensive collection is maintained, low demand categories of literature are collected only if availability elsewhere is non‐existent, restricted or slow. Among its 51,500 current serials are conventional journals, directories, yearbooks, report series, a few technical newspapers, some standards series and many official publications (particularly British). Including secondhand material, over 100,000 books are acquired each year. Most of these are in English but many foreign language items are brought in response to demand. Other categories of literature acquired are dissertations, research reports, research series in microform and music. The preferred method of obtaining serials is through a subscription agency. Although British books are selected in house, the majority of books are obtained by means of approval programmes. In addition, the Division has many exchange arrangements.