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We are working to upgrade the research experience by making ongoing improvements to our Research Guides.
You may encounter changes in the look and feel of the Research Guides website along with structural changes to our existing guides. If you have any questions or concerns about this process please let us know.

Selectors' Guide to Collection Development: Vendor Solicitations

For new and continuing selectors.

Handling Solicitations from Vendors

Some of us have been getting solicitations from Copyright Clearance Center and requests to include links in our Research Guides; one was sneaky enough to say it was for a Girl Scout project!  Here are some tips for library liaisons.

Handling Solicitations from Vendors.  Maris has advised on the following:

  • Librarians are not obligated to respond to unsolicited emails or from vendors.
  • If you choose to respond to a solicitation, you can do so briefly and refer them to Audri Pabustan with her email so she can forward it to the Collection Management (CM) team.
  • CM has the discretion to consider products, initiate conversations with the vendors, and discuss these with library departments/ people as necessary. 

Some of us have relationships with sales reps who provide updates, information, and swag on request, but overall, Collection Management manages the administrative relationship with vendors.  Library faculty and staff can add bids of support or suggestions for a product, but any questions about vendors or their requests or solicitations can be directed to CM.

Requests for Materials.  Separately from a liaison’s usual purchases for their subject areas, they, faculty, staff and students can request library purchases for books, journals, and indexes and databases via the Material Suggestion Form.  The only exception to this is when your direct supervisor wants you to consult with them for your own request.

Requests may be added to the Desiderata List (our in-house wish list for materials) or considered for Tech Fee proposals or end-of-year purchases.

 

Research Guide Site Solicitations.  Research Guide authors may receive emails from someone who compliments the guide (‘Hey, I saw your great ENC 1101 Guide,”) and then recommend to add their link (“I have a source that will be great for it.”). 

Guide authors are not obligated to respond to these solicitations, view the source, or add them.  They tend to be for commercial, fee-based products.  Some librarians have opted to respond that they only use links curated by librarians, and some have called them out (“this is predatory behavior”) or requested to be removed from their lists, but your response or non-response is your call.