Factors affecting acquisition policies in libraries: A comparative study of Centrally Funded Technical Institutes(CFTI) and Central Universities

Abstract

The information life cycle in a libraryinvolvesacquisition as one of the steps which involves acquiringdocuments for the library. Relevant resources are procured for use by the users. The process of library acquisition has witnessed a drastic change in recent times due to factors like digitalization, financial disruptions, various modes of delivery etc. The purpose of the present research is to understand the factors affecting acquisition policies of libraries of central universities and CFTIs. Literature review for the study was done from reputed databases like Emerald, Taylor and Francis and Web of Science and a Prisma model was developed to narrow down the literature review process. NVivo was used to understand the literature gap with TreeMap and Word cloud. A structured closed ended questionnaire having components related to acquisition was sent to library staff in the ranks of librarian, deputy librarian and assistant librarian for primary data collection. Descriptive statistics was applied to understand the demographic data and comprehend the importance of various components of acquisition. A comparative analysis was done with respect to the two types of institutions-centrally funded technical institutions and central universities. The conclusion of the research work is that the library staff of centrally funded technical institutions and central universities have different preferences for the factors affecting acquisition. The library staff of centrally funded technical institutions had the top priority for ‘ease of acquisition’ whereas their counterparts in central universities looked for ‘significance of the resources’ the most.