April 2005

The Approval Room, located in the Technical Services Division in the Science Library, is co-managed by the Acquisitions and Collection Development Division (CDD). Newly received library materials are placed in the Approval Room for review by faculty members and subject specialists. This document describes the types of materials put in the Approval Room and the various procedures performed by both Acquisitions Department staff and Collection Development staff in handling the approval materials. The computer in the Approval Room is available for anyone's use. It has a script file to automatically log into Scotty for searching in staff mode. Millennium is also available. Telnet and Web are available for Melvyl searching.

Approval Materials

Materials received "on approval" are received both as books and as slips, or form selections. Both the forms and the books are received from the vendor because we have established a profile for the types of materials we want to receive in both formats. Our primary approval vendor is Yankee Book Peddler for U.S. imprints. We also have approval plans with a number of vendors of materials from foreign countries. See the last section of this document for a list of foreign approval vendors. Most approval materials may be rejected by the subject specialist for a variety of reasons. There are some materials that are ordered on forms that are marked "non-returnable" and may not be rejected. Non-returnables will still be sent to the Approval Room for review. All Lindsay and Howes books are non-returnable unless they are damaged.

Approval Form Selections (all vendors)

Approval forms are received from Yankee, Touzot, Aux Amateurs, Harrassowitz, and Lindsay & Howes. These are sent to CDD by the Acquisitions Department (Ordering and Receiving Unit) or by the vendor directly to CDD. Subject Specialists review the forms and decide which titles to order, sending the selected forms to the Ordering and Receiving Unit. Once the books are received, they are placed on the appropriate review shelf in the Approval Room (described below). Form selections that are ordered rush or list a "notify" in the order record are sent directly to Cataloging.

Claim on Approval Materials

For materials published in the last two years (current calendar year and prior calendar year), we are able to order them through Yankee via "claim on approval." This enables us to receive the appropriate approval plan discount. Claim on approval materials are sent to the Approval Room for review and may be rejected. Firm orders are sent directly to Cataloging rather than the Approval Room.

Scotty Records for Approval Books

We receive a weekly FTP file from Yankee of brief bibliographic and order records that correspond to the approval books shipped to us that same week. The Approval Room Coordinator processes this file on Wednesday of each week, checking duplicates identified during the download process. Each possible duplicate is checked manually. If it is truly a duplicate, the Coordinator notifies Yankee via e-mail and the book in the new shipment is pulled and returned to Yankee. The invoice and the order record for that shipment is updated to show the return.

Acquisitions' Processing of Approval Books

All approval books will arrive with invoices sorted by fund code. Acquisitions/Ordering and Receiving Unit staff will sort the books by fund code and reconcile the invoice at the time of receipt. Books will be received and held until the next two week period of review is due to begin. Pink flags will no longer be inserted into the books at the time of receipt, unless it is a notify, a location decision is needed or special binding/handling is requested. For more on pink flags, see below.

All Yankee and Lindsay & Howes approval books and form selections will be placed on the shelves in the approval room every two weeks and will remain on the shelves for two weeks. The calendar of shipment dates is available on the Acquisitions Department website. Books will be shelved in alphabetical order by fund code (antha, artsa, busia, etc.). All shelves will be labeled with the fund code. Signs indicating "Will come down on [date]" (always a Friday) will be posted above the Rivera and Science approval shelves. The location of each fund's books will vary from shipment to shipment due to the size of the shipments.

Subject Specialists Responsibilities

Each subject specialist will review his/her fund code shelves. The following are actions to be taken:

• No action is needed if the book is to be kept on that fund and for the stacks location identified by its location in the approval room. Rivera approvals, (rstk) or Science approvals, (sstk). You do not need to repeat your initials or fund code on the form unless the fund code is not printed on the form.
• If rejecting the book for your fund, cross out the fund code on the Yankee form found in the book and indicate the reject reason on the back of the form with your initials. Insert a pink flag and mark the appropriate reason for rejecting the book (one of these reasons needs to be chosen). Put any notes on the bottom portion of the flag. Place the book on the reject/reconsideration shelf.
• If you have multiple funds and wish to change a book from one fund to another line out the fund on the Yankee form and write in the correct fund. The fund you change to should generally be a fund ending in "a". Please make sure to put the book on the location/fund changes shelf. Books that have changed funds or locations will not be seen if left on the regular shelves and will not get updated. If you would like to put the book in a different location, fill out a pink flag.
• If you have a book that you would like to have considered for a Rivera reference location and/or fund please fill out a blue slip (provided in the approval room). Put the blue slip in the book and lay that book down on its spine so the blue slip is visible. Contact Vicki Bloom and let her know that you have a book in the approval room for her consideration. If she chooses to accept this book she will note this on the blue slip and put the book on the location/fund change shelf. If she does not accept the book it will stay on its original shelf. If you do not want to keep this book if it is not accepted for reference please note this on the blue slip so it can be returned and put the book on the location/fund change shelf.
• When removing books for review, please make sure they are returned to the shelf from whence they came. We recommend that you use an out card to mark the place where the book came from. If you remove a book to take it out of the room, you must fill out an out card with your name, title of the book, and date. Please make sure to return any books removed from the approval room before the day they are due to come down from the shelves.

Rejected Books

All subject specialists are encouraged to review the reject/reconsideration shelf. If you select a book from the reject/reconsideration shelf, remove the pink slip and put the fund code (ending in an "a" not ending in an "f ") and location on the Yankee slip. Place the book on the location/fund change shelf.

Rejects will remain on the reject/reconsideration shelf for one week following the take down date of the shipment they were pulled from in order to give everyone time to review them. All books remaining on the reject/reconsideration shelf at 8 a.m. on Friday of that week will be returned to Yankee. All subject specialists will receive a reminder email via CDNET on the Tuesday before the rejected books are due to come down. Acquisitions staff will confirm that the back of the Yankee slip is marked when they clear the reject/reconsideration shelf.

Materials on the location/fund changes shelf will be pulled by Acquisitions/Ordering and Receiving staff and the order records will be corrected accordingly before sending them to cataloging.

Review Schedule

All books will remain in the Approval Room for two weeks. The entire shipment will remain for two weeks and the room will be cleared on Friday of the second week, beginning at 10:00 a.m. and a new shipment will take its place. Books should be reviewed by the end of the day on the Thursday before the take down date. Every subject specialist is required to initial the "Approval Authorization Sheet" on the table in the Approval Room when they have finished reviewing ALL of their fund shelves. All subject specialists will receive a reminder email via CDNET on the Tuesday before the books are due to come down.

For example, a shipment will go up on Friday, September 3rd. These books will be scheduled to come down on Friday, September 17th at 10am. Holidays will skew the schedule and, depending on the length of the holiday, we will adjust the schedule by a few days. You will be notified via CDNET of any schedule changes. We will aim for keeping a Friday/Friday schedule where books are consistently put up on a Friday and taken down on a Friday.

Distribution of books

All funds that have a green label, on the shelf, will come down first for special processing. These funds are: GOVPA, ETONA, JUVEA, RREFA, SREFA and SPCOA. GOVPA books do not go to cataloging and are sent directly to Government Publications at the Rivera Library. ETONA books are put on the Eaton shelves. JUVEA books are given to Linda Owen. SREFA and RREFA books are put on the "Rush" shelf and SPCOA books are put in the Special Collections room in Preservation.

Foreign Approvals

Foreign approval books must have records downloaded from OCLC to Scotty and an order record created by the Ordering and Receiving Unit staff upon receipt. If there is no OCLC copy, then a brief record is input on Scotty. Then the books are distributed to special shelves in the Approval Room for each language/country. Some Harrassowitz titles are in English, but are still placed on the German approval shelf. The subject specialists responsible for the foreign approval plans sign the sign-in sheet on the table when they are done. Acquisitions staff remove the books and reconcile the invoices once the subject specialists have completed their review. Books will stay on the shelves for three weeks. The shelf will be marked with a green "Will Come Down On" slip. Books that have not been reviewed by the "Come Down" date will be taken down and processed as thought they had been approved. Foreign approval shipments are irregular.

Art Approval Books

Art approval books are received from World Wide Books, Time Warner Trade Publishing. Books are processed by Ordering and Receiving Unit staff, downloading a record from OCLC to Scotty and creating an order record. If there is no record on OCLC, a brief record is input on Scotty. The books that have been reviewed are reconciled against the invoice by an Ordering and Receiving Unit staff member. The Approval Room Coordinator will notify the subject specialist if books have been on the shelves for more than three weeks.

Discipline Review Shelves

All technical services staff may address questions about specific items to subject specialists. The staff member will send an e-mail message to the appropriate person before putting the book on the appropriate discipline shelf. The book will have a pink flag with the subject specialist's name on the very top of it. A note will be on the pink slip or other documentation with the staff members name and date when it was placed on the shelf. All staff will sign and date notes left with materials. When the subject specialist has answered the question or resolved the problem, he/she will either return it to the individual or place it on the location/fund changes shelf. The bibliographers will be responsible for monitoring the materials that remain on the discipline shelves to make sure subject specialists are handling these items in a timely manner. Acquisitions staff will also monitor these shelves for materials that are remaining on the shelves for more than two weeks. Staff will contact subject specialists and bibliographers about items that remain on the shelves for more than two weeks. The Head of Acquisitions will be consulted if there is no response from Collection Development.

Foreign Approval Vendors

Glossary of Terms

Approval Plan - Materials received according to a profile developed by the Library that is based on the Library's subject and non-subject parameters such as content level, format, and type of publication. Books or selection slips are sent automatically to the Library based on the profile. All materials received on approval are returnable, with the exception of Lindsay & Howes.

Blanket Plan - The Library receives all materials published by the blanket plan publisher automatically. For some publishers, the Library pays a flat annual fee for the blanket plan. For others, the publisher sends an invoice with each shipment of materials.

Firm Order - Materials ordered directly from a publisher's catalog, website, or other means besides approval forms. Acquisitions staff choose the vendor if not specified by the bibliographer based on priority status (rush) and vendor discounts available.

Form Selection/Order - Materials ordered via approval plan forms or slips. Slips are generated by the vendor according to the Library's profile. The Library chooses to receive slips instead of books for some areas of the profile. Approval plan discounts apply to all form selections.

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