Staff Profile: Anne Deacon, Head of Acquisitions

Head of Acquisitions at Western Libaries, Anne Deacon has been part of the Western Libraries staff for thirty consecutive years in addition to an earlier eight-year term of employment.  She oversees the ordering, receiving and payment of all books and serials at Western Libraries and supervises the derived cataloguing staff.

Are there any duties or services you offer that you would like to highlight for the Western community?

The Acquisitions department is the business end of the library system.  We manage the purchases of all books and serials for the seven libraries at Western.  Last year alone, we received 28,000+ books.  We also manage the entire library catalogue, of which a growing responsibility is the large collection of of 500,000+ e-books and 44,000+ e-journals, and this collection is growing daily.  We are a very busy department!

What would you consider to be the best part of your job?

I enjoy the interaction with co-workers, and I value their friendship and support over the years.  I also enjoy a good rapport with our book and serial vendors as well as peers outside of the Western Libraries system.

What would you consider to be the most interesting part of your job?

I find enjoyment in trouble shooting and problem solving.  I experience a sense of accomplishment when I am able to get discounts on orders or negotiate the terms of larger package orders, which benefits collection librarians' budgets and the Western Libraries system budget as a whole.

I also enjoy finding new ways of doing processes and thinking outside of the box.  Western Libraries has taken the lead in streamlining acquisitions processes and has won the Canadian Library Association's award for Achievement in Technical Services.

What makes Western Libraries special or unique?

We have a long standing staff here at Western Libraries.  There is a large number of staff members with twenty plus years of experience, and that says a lot about Western Libraries.

Any personal interests or hobbies that you would like to tell us about?

My family, which consists of my husband, daughter and grandson, is my number one priority.  Besides my immediate family, I have a group of close friends that I consider my extended family.  I also enjoy gardening as well as camping, canoeing and fishing in Northern Ontario.

This article appears as part of a series of staff profiles designed to introduce library staff members and their services to the Western community.  Stay tuned for more Western Libraries staff profiles!