The Purchase of Books program is administered by the Office of the Assistant Librarian for Processing
Services, in conjunction with the Collections Development Office and the Law Librarian, and provides for the
acquisition of books and other materials for use in the Library of Congress. It covers the purchase of materials
for the Library's general collections and for the Law Library. Although materials come to the Library through
copyright deposits, transfer from Federal Agencies, gift, domestic and international exchange, and by provisions
of State and Federal law, the material acquired through purchase augments these other sources of library materials -
both foreign and U. S. in a fundamental way. The Library's foreign offices and arrangements with book dealers,
agents, and publishers assure the prompt acquisition of current foreign books of research value, especially from
those African, Asian, and Latin American countries, whose situation presents difficult problems in the identifica-
tion, selection, and acquisition of library materials.

Management objectives for 1988 are to improve the quality of the Library's acquisitions and provide a
better selection of material, more rapidly, for Congress, scholars, and the Library's staff.

A total of $5,372,000 is required to support this program in fiscal 1988. An increase of $856,000
is requested to offset loss in purchasing power due to escalating book prices and the declining value of the
U.S. dollar versus foreign currencies.

15.

Books and library materials (GENPAC). + $776,200
Books and library materials (Law)

.... + 79,800

An increase of $856,000 is requested to maintain purchasing power for books and
other materials for the general collections and for the collections of the Law Library.
$776,200 of this total is needed to recover from price escalations of 19.5 percent for
materials for the general collections, and $79,800 is needed to offset an increase of
14.9 percent in the cost of law materials. If purchasing power is not sustained at the
level existing prior to the precipitous decline in the value of the U.S. dollar, the
Library will suffer the loss to its acquisitions program of approximately 20,000 new
books and 4,000 subscriptions to current serials and periodicals per year. Such a sharp
diminution of receipts of these important research materials would critically weaken the
Library's collections and drastically reduce the Library's ability to provide the
Congress, other government agencies and the public, with essential reference service.

+ $ 856,000

16.

In addition to the Preparation of Books, Processing Services administers the Purchase of Books and
Cataloging Distribution Service programs, each described under its own heading.

19.