Turnaround Time

The University Library System purchases its books and serials on the recommendation of teaching staff, or, to a lesser extent, as suggested by students. The books and serials, mostly in English or Chinese, are supplied by world-class vendors and publishers all over the world, e.g. U.S., U.K., Australia, Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Depending on the source of the books and serials, the lead-time for their purchase can vary widely. However, the Library takes great care to select the most efficient and cost-effective vendors in order to secure an optimal turnaround time for acquisitions of library materials. Generally speaking, the time required for purchasing a book from the English speaking countries is eight weeks, but it can take 10 weeks to acquire a book from Mainland China because most of the books are delivered by train and because of customs delay. Otherwise, local books can be acquired more quickly, and most book orders can be filled in 7-10 days. Due to the pre-payment nature of serials subscriptions, the time required to receive a newly subscribed journal will be a bit longer. Normally, it will take 12 weeks to start receiving the first issue.

The Book and Serials Vendors

As mentioned above, the major international book and serials vendors the Library uses are very efficient and provide services far more superior than those of the online bookshops. Below are some of the important vendor services:

1. Availability of a huge warehouse – our major vendor stocks more than 4 million volumes and is also the major book supplier to Amazon.com and other online booksellers. Buying from our vendors can be faster than from any online bookshop.
2. Supply of Machine Readable Catalog (MARC) Records which can be loaded to our computer system – this saves the Library considerable manpower and time in cataloguing books.
3. Outsourcing of technical services – book vendors can have the library books bound before shipping. For books purchased from places with a lower cost of living (e.g. China Mainland), a significant saving can be achieved by the Library, allowing us to buy more publications for the same money.
4. Collection development – vendors have sophisticated online collection development tools that generate relevant new publication information in print or electronic formats for teaching faculties' selection.
5. Electronic ordering – all library book orders are transmitted to the vendors real-time and without any human intervention. This guarantees immediacy and accuracy in our ordering process.
6. Costs saving – books are sent to the Library by air without freight charge and a good discount is provided for most books purchased.
7. Online journal services – vendors can provide necessary information to establish access to online journals more efficiently.
8. Electronic claiming – missing journal claims can be sent seamlessly to vendors with minimal delay.

A Note about Journal Cancellation

It is always advisable to submit cancellation requests before September 1 of each year in order to effectuate the cancellation next year. Depending on a publisher's policy, late cancellation may not necessarily be possible.