Acquisitions and Serials

The Acquisitions and Serials unit of Collection Management purchases books, journals, online databases and journal archives, audio and visual media, printed music, and other items.  Our staff members locate requested material and place orders with vendors, negotiate license agreements for online materials, acquire performance rights and pay licensing fees for film screenings, pay vendors for all materials, track receipt of materials (including verifying access to online material we've paid for) and contact vendors when necessary to troubleshoot problems such as missing journal issues or difficulties gaining access to online material.

For documentation related to Periodicals and Serials, see our Wiki.

Cataloging

The Cataloging unit supports the College mission by providing access to both print and electronic information. We also perform much of the database management that makes our online catalog (MIDCAT) an effective search tool.

For documentation about our cataloging procedures and links to cataloging resources, see the cataloging wiki.

Preservation & Processing

We process new materials (books and audio/visual media) being added to the collection by labeling them to indicate location and ownership and by reinforcing items as necessary to withstand shared use.  We preserve the library collections by repairing materials in the circulating collections and performing conservation treatments on materials in special collections.  We also monitor the environment and educate users on proper handling of library collections.

For documentation related to Preservation & Processing please see our wiki.

Watch our locally produced "commercial" on how to handle library materials.

Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

Interlibrary Loan helps eligible patrons obtain materials that are not available at the Middlebury College Libraries, or via NExpress. ILL services are made possible by participating libraries worldwide that share their collections with scholars, researchers, and students of other institutions.

For more information see our main page.