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book accession policies



        The following is the result of the survey done on this listserv a couple of
weeks ago on book accession policies.

        I received fourteen responses in all. All but two treat books differently
than other materials in their repository.  Half of these catalog but do not
accession books; the other half accession "informally".  Most keep an
acquisitions list of some sort whether they accession or not.  This
acquisitions list usually contains information on the donor or vendor and a
basic description of the book.
        Three responses said that books were treated in accord with how they were
obtained;  they were treated differently if purchased than if donated or
pulled from a manuscript collection.
        It was interesting that fully half of the reponses expressed some degree of
interest in the subject because they were unsure of how to treat books.  Two
asked for a report on what we decide to do.  One said there is no
controversy, that the real problem is that I am a "librarian" only concerned
with "managing information"; in their institution, accessioning was closely
related to preservation efforts.  The other responses offered no opinion,
but simply reported their policy.
        Thanks to all who responded.  Our institution has decided to retain our
policy of accessioning books with the exception of books purchased or
donated as a result of a reproduction rights agreement, in which we received
a copy of the item once it is published.  While I am not totally pleased
with the result, at least it is a move in the right direction.

        Randy Smith
        Archives Librarian
        Eastern Washington State Historical Society
        Spokane

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