Re: Acquisitions and Ebay Merle Colglazier 13 Apr 2005 04:47 UTC
I am very glad to see Amy Carlson raise the question of using online auctions for acquisitions and would like to reply directly to the group. I believe that online auction technology offers great potential benefits to libraries for improving the acquisitions of serials in the secondhand marketplace. Dynamic pricing and varied pricing options are major benefits of using online auctions for serial acquisitions. In order to realize all the potential benefits of online auctions a willingness to try new methods and flexible thinking is required. Online auctions are a new mechanism for trade that are proven to be effective for many industries and commodities on a global scale. The online auction can also be an effective trade mechanism for secondhand serials by functioning as a powerful international web-based acquisition system. One of the main keys to making online auctions useful for serials acquisition is developing customized software that incorporates bibliographic control for serials. For example, effective online auction software for serial acquisition needs to operate similarly to how interlibrary loan software interacts with a serial union catalog. The general auction site with thousands of categories is like an ocean an inch deep and won't permit serial trading activity to scale. On the other hand, a specialized auction site devoted to serials that incorporates serial bibliographic control is like a lake a mile deep and will permit serial trading activity to scale. I don't believe that the problems with using a general online auction such as fraud and dealing with strangers will exist to the same extent with using a specialized online auction site for serial acquisitions. This is mainly because the community of users will be similar to an interlibrary loan network. Even though dealers and individuals will be included as sellers in the auction community, it's a smaller world in a specialized online auction and more likely to be ethical. In addition, the problem with a general auction site being time-consuming to use is not likely to pertain to a specialized auction site that has time saving features built into it. If the moderators will allow, I would also like to call attention to the free, specialized online auction site for medical journals, IKNOSYS Medical Journals Auction at http://www.iknosys.com. I encourage everyone interested in using online auctions for serial acquisitions to explore this free service for purchasing, trading and donating secondhand medical journals and welcome your comments. Merle Colglazier, AHIP President IKNOSYS Medical Journals Auction Richmond, Virginia Info@iknosys.com