Історія менеджера відділу комплектування
The Research Library at the Getty Research Institute is one of the largest art libraries in the world, housing over one million volumes of books, periodicals, and auction catalogs. As the manager of acquisitions, I supervise six dedicated colleagues responsible for acquiring library materials to expand this advanced research library collection in all formats and languages, and to serve the needs of our readers, scholars, and staff.
What Does a Library Acquisitions Manager Do?
Our Research Library adds approximately 25,000 new books a year to its existing million-plus volumes. Here’s a peek at how we make it happen
The Research Library at the Getty Research Institute is one of the largest art libraries in the world, housing over one million volumes of books, periodicals, and auction catalogs. As the manager of acquisitions, I supervise six dedicated colleagues responsible for acquiring library materials to expand this advanced research library collection in all formats and languages, and to serve the needs of our readers, scholars, and staff.
On any given day, you can find members of our team ordering, receiving, invoicing, and cataloging collection materials; checking in serials; and assisting the Getty’s electronic resources librarian in managing access to electronic titles, such as online journals.
Marie Faye Barrera and Linta Kunnathuparambil unpack newly arrived library titles.
Why Work in Acquisitions?
Acquisitions is not on the mind of most library users, but it’s a major section in most libraries. Working behind the scenes, our team is responsible for obtaining the material selected by collection development staff to enhance the collection.
Managing the acquisitions budget is one of my primary tasks, but it’s only part of the process of making materials available for library readers and scholars. After an item is received and paid for, it has to be processed. While some books arrive shelf-ready from a third-party service, others need to be transferred to cataloging staff for additional processing. This involves creating or updating a metadata record and applying barcodes, beepers and spine labels to the item.
Our acquisitions team receives and processes about 2,000 volumes every month—a bibliophile’s dream! This includes donations, acquisitions, and direct orders, which are hand-selected by our bibliographers. In addition, we acquire materials for the Getty Conservation Institute, the Getty Villa, and the smaller Getty hand libraries, such as those in the Museum and the Department of Photographs.
Diane Fulton prepares a newly arrived book for shelving.
