To make the entire collection easily identifiable in the library s OPAC, all DR materials are cataloged with the locally added subject heading Dominican Republic Collection. This allows the OPAC to retrieve all titles with a simple keyword or subject search. It also provides an additional access point for materials with significant Dominican content that is not reflected in the assigned Library of Congress subject headings. Heavy emphasis is placed on comprehensively acquiring current titles published in English. Dominican publications in Spanish are also purchased at the comprehensive level.
Secondary emphasis is placed on identifying and acquiring key retrospective titles.
Strategies used to acquire materials include the library's approval plan, specialized jobbers, organization and used-book web sites, buying trips, and direct purchases from bookstores and government agencies in the Dominican Republic. Others, such as research reports and studies generated by organizations are identified and ordered via organization web sites. Bibliographies, reference lists, the OCLC WorldCat database, and used book dealer web sites such as Bibliofind are scanned on a regular basis to identify titles that may have been missed. We have also begun to seek permission from copyright holders to copy out of print materials. With the exception of a few jobbers who specialize in Caribbean imprints or comprehensive coverage of all of Latin America, very few Dominican imprints are available via the channels used by most libraries to acquire Spanish-language materials.