1997 RESEARCH AWARD
        LIBRARY ACQUISITIONS: PRACTICE & THEORY

        The Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory (LAPT) Research Award
provides an annual prize of $1,000 for research in the broad areas of
acquisitions, serials, publishing, and collection management.  The award
will be given for one proposal and administered in two parts: $500 when
the proposal is selected to fund the research effort and $500 when the
completed manuscript is submitted to Library Acquisitions: Practice &
Theory.  The award will be granted to the individual, not the institution,
and may be used to cover expenses incurred in conducting the research
outlined in the winning proposal, including travel, postage, staff
support, supplies, and other items.

        The winning proposal will identify a critical issue in
acquisitions, serials, publishing, or collection management and outline a
rigorous approach to testing or solving the issue raised.  Proposals will
be judged on their significance, clarity and originality.  The proposal
should be a brief, concise description of the project (no more than 500
words).  A budget proposal and a one page vita of the author must be
attached.  Awards will not be limited to experienced researchers; however,
researchers should present their proposal clearly addressing the following
issues:

        1.      What are the aims and objectives of the research proposal?
        2.      What methodology and data analysis procedures will be employed?
        3.      What related research has been undertaken and/or published?
                Please include specific citations.
        4.      Is the research replication of a previous study?

        The deadline for submitting proposals is February 15, 1997.
Proposals will be reviewed by a panel consisting of the editor-in-chief,
the assistant editors, and three members of the editorial board.  The
winning proposal will be announced at the American Library Association
Conference in 1997 and in the fourth issue of LAPT for the year.  Research
for the winning proposal must be completed within one year of the date
when the award is announced. Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory
reserves the right of first refusal of the completed manuscript.

        Information on past recipients and their research follows:

        1992 -- Anna H. Perrault -- "The Shrinking Collection: A Study of
the Effects of the Diversion of Funds from Monographs to Serials on the
Monograph Collections of Research Libraries"  Published in LAPT v. 18, no.
1, pp. 3-22.
                This study investigated the shrinking non-serial resources
base for United States academic libraries, shifts in monographic
collecting patterns and trends in the acquisition of foreign language
imprints, and the decline in monograph acquisitions as distributed across
subject disciplines or among language groups.

        1993 -- Samuel Demas, Anne S. Caputo, and William J. Kara --
"Viability of the Vendor Model of Information Delivery Through a Library
Gateway"
                The study aims to determine the viability of the 'vendor
model' of information delivery through a library gateway.  By offering a
campus community unrestricted access to an unprecedented scope of
electronic information, libraries and vendors will learn for the first
time: which files are used, how much they are used, by whom they are used
(e.g. faculty, staff, students), and at what times of the day and night.

        1994 -- Tina E. Chrzastowski and Karen A. Schmidt -- "The Serials
Cancellation Crisis:  Determining Recent National Trends in Academic Library
Serial Collections Through the Use of Commercial Vendor Subscription Records"
                The study will determine how recent rounds of serial
cancellations have affected academic research collections nationwide.  It
will identify national trends in serials collections by analyzing serial
cancellations and serial orders over three year (1991-1993) from ten
academic research libraries located throughout the United States.  This
study builds on the earlier work of the researchers, "Surveying the
Damage: Academic Library Serial Cancellations 1987-88 through 1989-90,"
which appeared in College and Research Libraries, volume 54, no. 2 (March
1993, pp. 93-102.

        1995 -- no award made

        1996 -- Tschera Harkness Connell -- "Effects of Series Authority
Control for Acquisitions"
                The study "grew out of the 1993 proposal from the Library
of Congress to discontinue the series authority work. [A subsequent
decision was made in Fall 1994 that LC would continue to provide added
entries and series authorities.] This study will address such questions as
to what extent (if any) will eliminating series authority control increase
the potential for duplicates in the acquisition process?  Specifically,
the issue will be examined in the context of approval plans.  Is it
possible that the series control is monitored sufficiently by the vendors
for purposes of preventing unwanted duplicates?"

Proposals and questions concerning this year's award should be addressed to:

Carol Pitts Diedrichs
Editor-in-Chief
Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory
2338 Antigua Drive #2C
Columbus, OH 43235
(614) 292-6314
FAX: (614) 292-2015
Internet: diedrichs.1@osu.edu
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Carol Pitts Diedrichs
Head, Acquisition Department
Editor, Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory
The Ohio State University Libraries
1858 Neil Avenue Mall
Columbus, OH, 43210-1286
tel: 614-292-6314
fax: 614-292-2015
Internet: diedrichs.1@osu.edu