Selector or selector's assistant indicates local and remote databases to query and issues the search. If it is necessary to proceed, the search key can be reissued as is or revised and then issued in one or more utilities. The order is placed at this time. In the firm order process, the Team noted that there is a good deal of what appears to be duplicate searching between the selection staff and the acquisitions staff. Selectors employ a variety of methods and rationales in performing a pre-order search in advance of sending citations to the staff in Acquisitions.
Some selectors do minimal preliminary work themselves, others do more extensive searching.
Some selectors have assistants, part of whose time is devoted to pre-order searching. The nature of the material also affects the amount and type of pre-order searching done in the selector area. These processes winnow down the titles directed to Acquisitions to those most likely to be ordered. While the assistants in Collections have searching expertise in support of collection development, and the staff in acquisitions have searching expertise in support of ordering, with the proper training and computer support, collection development searching and pre-order searching might be collapsed and the actual placing of an order could happen as the result of one set of transactions, rather than two. Required Actions Determine new staffing patterns to support single-point searching for collection development support and ordering.