Cornell University Library Collection Development Manual: Pre-Selection Searching

You are NOT responsible for ascertaining whether or not the library already has a copy of something you are ordering, although if you suspect that we do, it saves some work in Acquisitions if you check the catalog before you send them the order. Pre-selection searching is generally for your own education about the collection, and to help you make informed choices.

Some questions that may lead you to do some searching before ordering an item are: Do we already have this title? (one which looks familiar, or one that is not brand new and is clearly in scope) What else has this author published? Do we have other works by this author? Do have we a standing order for the series? Do we have other numbers in this series? Do we have an earlier edition? What else do we have from this small publisher? Do we have recent works on this topic?

You may want to check WorldCat to get more complete bibliographic information (Is this title part of a series? Who is the current publisher of this serial?) or to find out more about an author, or to see if copies are owned by peer institutions. If many Borrow Direct libraries own a book that we lack, you may decide that either we should have it, too, or that the BD holdings are sufficient for potential use at Cornell. If no Borrow Direct libraries own the book, you may decide we should get it so there is a copy readily available. Note that there is often a time lag between the publication of a foreign book and its showing up in Worldcat or other bibliographic database.

Pre-selection searching at Mann.
Pre-selection searching is performed for print catalogs and potential gift donations by Betsy Elswit. Reviewing records in Oasis is the responsibility of the selector.

Pre-order searching, done in Library Technical Services.
The last thing the Order Unit does before placing an order is check to see if we already have it. If we do, they will send the order back to you with a note to that effect.

For more detailed information about orders, funds, prices, vendors, serials check-in, claims, circulation history, payment history, etc., see the Voyager modules (Acquisitions, Cataloging, and Circulation), which should be loaded on your computer.