Acquisitions & Gifts

Resource Acquisitions Department Logo ImageAnnually, the Resource Acquisitions Department processes orders and payments for 7,000 monographs, 3,300 serial subscriptions, and a variety of nonprint media for SIL's 21 branch libraries. The ten staff members also provide acquisitions services to other Smithsonian units such as the Woodrow Wilson Center and Smithsonian libraries outside the Libraries' system. The Gifts & Exchange (G&E) section maintains publication exchange arrangements with over 4,000 institutional partners worldwide. The G&E unit receives annually an average of over 7,000 books and journal subscriptions as gifts. The department also manages the Libraries' Translations Program which seeks out and makes available, in English, foreign language titles of scientific significance. Serials & Electronic Journals coordinates and manages the access and cataloging of electronic journals as well as the cataloging of hard copy serials. The staff routinely handle the check-in of print journals that are received through subscriptions, exchange partners, or through continuing gifts. Maintenance activities that section staff perform for serials involve transfers, withdrawals, binding, and holdings information.