Quick guide to the Library Approval Plan
As of January 1, 2006 the University Libraries have four approval plans with Yankee Book Peddlers. As with all approval plans, these agreements achieve the automatic receipt of books matching the Libraries’ specifications, which consist of publisher lists, subject profiles, and a variety of other terms governing the treatment of books according to academic level, edition, language, and other parameters. Our publisher lists include all US and British university presses, along with hundreds of trade publishers and scholarly and scientific societies.
Among them, the four plans account for the majority of book acquisitions by the Libraries. Books received on approval generally arrive faster, with a larger discount, and with a lower expenditure of staff resources than books that are ordered individually. Patrons desiring a book likely to come on approval should not hesitate to request the title, because it is only by this means that we can make sure that they will be informed of its arrival.
We maintain the following approval plans:
- A faculty authors plan for monographs authored or edited by members of the Virginia Tech faculty
- A plan governing monographs in the humanities and social sciences
- A plan governing monographs in the sciences and technology
- A textbook plan bringing a moderate representation of the best upper-level textbooks in all disciplines
We will be glad to share the details of these plans or to entertain suggestions for their modification. The library’s subject bibliographers can access the details of each plan through their passworded accounts on Gobi, Yankee’s online system. Patrons interested in knowing more about our current plans should contact Paul Metz, Director of Collection Management, 540-231-5663, email Paul Metz.
