The University of California Libraries: A Plan for Development (1977)

VIII. Acquisition and Processing 127
materials likely to be needed within one week should be available
within the system. As indicated earlier, the immediacy of need and
the likelihood of need may be predictable by several factors, one of
which is language, and it is likely that much of the material to be
acquired on a regional or systemwide basis will be materials in the
less common languages. Even in the largest libraries, as De Gennaro
points out, "they are not heavily used and could be shared to a much
greater extent than they are now." 16
A University committee charged with recommending guidelines for
the acquisition of materials on a regional and systemwide basis has
also recommended several other kinds of materials which should be
considered in this category, including newspapers on microfilm and
subscriptions to serials which are needed in only one copy throughout
the system.
Under the procedures adopted for acquisition of such materials,
each campus makes recommendations for items to be purchased with the
funds available, and a group composed of the chief collection development
officers on each campus reviews the recommendations.
Items for which there is substantial agreement as to purchase
and location among members of this group will be approved for
purchase, with the Executive Director reserving the right to
veto items whose purchase would not be consistent with the University
of California libraries policies. Decisions on items
for which substantial agreement cannot be reached will be referred
to the Executive Director or his designee. 17
Further experience with this procedure during 1977/78 will indicate
whether revision of this methodology is needed.
It should be noted that not all material acquired on a regional
or systemwide basis will necessarily be stored in a regional facility.
In most cases, in fact, it is expected that the material will
be housed in an existing campus library, with that campus assuming
16 Richard De Gennaro, "Austerity, Technology and Resource Sharing:
Research Libraries Face the Future," Library Journal, v. 100 (May 15,
1975), p. 919.
17 Collection Development Committee, Guidelines for University
of California Library Acquisitions with Shared Purchase Funds,
August, 1976, p. 3.