Procuring printed data

IntroductionUp

Print procurement involves special handling and recordkeeping requirements.

Need assessment

Before you procure, or propose to procure, a printed publication, you should make a rapid effort to verify that we have not already procured it and that the same source is not available also as a digital file. Consult our list of registered sources to verify that we don’t yet have the one you are considering.

Management

Typically, print procurement is by mail or courier from another location and requires payment. We need to arrange payment, specify the method of shipment and the delivery location, track the shipment, take delivery, inspect the contents, and deal with the delivered material.

Some of these requirements are managed by the acquisition management system.

Books

Internet Archive partnership

There is a special procedure for the procurement of printed books for the PanLex Collection at the Internet Archive. The Internet Archive digitizes the books that we acquire, stores the books in its book repository, and adds the digital files to the PanLex Collection. The files are subject to permissions that make it possible for members of the public to “borrow” digital books in the collection one borrower at a time, while the PanLex project obtains the files for use in our project. If you are procuring a printed book under this program, you will receive pertinent instructions.

Library books

Many book-format resources useful for PanLex are not practically available except in the collections of large research libraries. In such a case we have four main alternative procurement methods to choose among:

  1. Consult the book in the library and never procure a copy for the resource archive. This method is particularly appropriate when the book is too complex for analysis and the library is near the editor who will consult it.
  2. Borrow the book through an interlibrary loan service, consult it, and then return it. Among the interlibrary loan services available to us are those of the Oakland Public Library and (when one of us is a member) the Mechanics Institute.
  3. Borrow the book locally or through an interlibrary loan service, convert the relevant pages to photographic images, use those image files as the resource files, and return the book.
  4. Order scanned page images from a library. The University of California at Berkeley Library has a duplication service we can use to obtained PDF files from pages of books held by that library.

We avoid alternatives 3 and 4 when the book is commercially available for purchase. Library and commercial duplication services can be expected to place restrictions on book duplication when its volume suffices to raise doubt about compliance with copyright law. One librarian at UC Berkeley told us that this would happen there if an order exceeded 100 pages or 10% of the pages of a book, but we have not found any published policy setting such a limit at UC Berkeley. We expect that out-of-print books and orphan works will be treated more liberally than commercially available books.

Acquisition Procurement Procedure

  1. In Wrike, click “Acquisition Sources” in left sidebar menu.
  2. Open a source task with status “Order”.
  3. Double-check entries for completeness, make sure source has been reviewed by other interns.
  4. Go to website of bookseller listed for this source (in Wrike task).
  5. Obtain credit card from Julie.
  6. Make the purchase online. Billing and receiving addresses will be provided to you by Julie.
  7. Troubleshoot problems with the purchase.
  8. Forward the order confirmation email to Julie.
  9. Fill out “Procurement” fields in Wrike.
  10. Note any problems or unique circumstances in purchase process in Wrike NOTES section.
  11. Upload screenshot of confirmation email or relevant picture to Wrike NOTES section.
  12. Mark the source/task as “Completed”. This will signal the PanLex Bot to initiate the source registration in the PanLex database.
  13. Return credit card to Julie.

Acquisition Receiving Procedure

  1. Open delivered packages, dispose of boxes in recycling.
  2. Confirm each publication against order records in Wrike.
  3. Paperwork included with publication to be retained by Julie.
  4. Deliver each publication to the principal intern or volunteer associated with it.
  5. Principal intern or volunteer will examine publication and amend Wrike entries as needed.
  6. Store publication on bookshelf for next batch to be readied for Internet Archive. Make note in Wrike of the batch number associated with the publication.

Ordering Publications

Have items shipped to:
Long Now Foundation – PanLex
Attn: Julie Anderson
2140 Shattuck Ave #405
Berkeley CA 94704