Policy: Minimum Acquisitions Data

Justification

Indicating inventory (holdings, items, and portfolios) in Alma’s Network Zone for materials both ordered and cataloged will avoid unnecessary duplication, allow member libraries to make acquisitions decisions based on the most current and accurate data, and support increased collaborative technical services and cooperative collection development between Alliance libraries.

Policy

  • All Alliance libraries must create Purchase Order Lines (POLs) in Alma at the point of ordering.
  • Bibliographic records associated with Purchase Order Lines should be present in or added to the Network Zone (NZ) and must come from one of the following sources:
    • An existing Network Zone (NZ) record
    • An existing Community Zone (CZ) record
    • A record imported into the NZ from an outside source (e.g., downloaded from OCLC or imported via an import profile)
    • A brief record created manually in the NZ, which will be replaced with an OCLC record as part of a cataloging workflow. Whenever possible, brief bibliographic records added to the Network Zone should contain the title, ISBN, author, edition, publication date of the item, and record identifier. Any additional information to aid in identification is beneficial but not essential.
  • With regard to gift material, which may or may not go through Acquisitions staff, libraries should make an effort to get donated material into the NZ as quickly as possible. This means either creating POLs for gifts, or cataloging the material as it is received by the library.
  • For a list of exceptions to inclusion in the Network Zone, please see the Alma Network Zone policy.

Background

Software: Alma

Current status: Approved

Written by: Collaborative Technical Services Team’s Acquisitions Working Group

Approved by: Collaborative Technical Services Team on 1/21/2014; Reaffirmed with no changes by Technical Services Working Group on 10/25/2016; Minor update approved by Technical Services Working Group on 11/29/2016; Revision approved by Shared Content and Technical Services Team on 2/11/2021.

Last updated: 02/12/2021

Nature of last update: policy revision

Document History:

  • Revision by Cataloging Standing Group in 02/2021 to incorporate “In-Process Brief Bibliographc Data” policy.
  • Minor update approved on 11/29/2016 added Community Zone (CZ) records as an approved source for bibliographic records.
  • Revision drafted by CTST Acquisitions Working Group on December 6, 2013.