2013 Charleston Conference

For collection development librarians, an overseas buying trip can be an excellent opportunity to acquire unique and rare items, benefit from discounts and favorable exchange rates and solidify relationships with foreign vendors. Moreover, buying trips can help librarians network with international peers, develop professionally, build confidence and, for area studies specialists, maintain an authentic connection with their area of specialization. Yet buying trips are also fraught with challenges ranging from logistics and planning, to avoiding duplication and impulse purchases. I will draw on my experiences planning and executing a buying trip to India in January 2012, as well as my interviews with South Asian subject specialist colleagues, to lay out a framework for best practices in overseas buying trips. Session attendees will leave the session able to begin a conversation with their library’s administration about going on an overseas buying trip as well the tools to draft an effective proposal and plan for the trip.