South Asia Cooperative Acquisitions Program (SACAP)
- The South Asia Cooperative Acquisitions Program is open to any library or research institution that would like to acquire publications from any of the following countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Tibetan publications available in these countries.
- Participants sign up for each country individually and can opt to receive publications from only one country or from any of the countries listed.
- Participants receive publications according to a profile which they define based on subject, language, level of selectivity and other categories available for selection.
- Profiles for Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, and for twelve of the languages of India are identical as far as subject categories are concerned. The subject profile for English publications from India has the largest number of options. The following languages and formats can be acquired only in sets, i.e., they are not available for selection by subject: From India: Arabic, Assamese, European languages, Hindi dialects, Kashmiri, Konkani, Manipuri, Nepali, Pali, Persian, Prakrit, Rajasthani, Sindhi, and tribal languages. From Bangladesh: Arabic and Urdu. From Sri Lanka: Pali and Tamil. From Nepal: Newari and Sanskrit. From all countries: video and sound recordings.
- The Tibetan program has a distinct subject profile. This program crosses geographic and political boundaries -- participating libraries receive Tibetan materials available in various South Asian countries.
Description of the subject profiles
Participants joining a program for the first time deposit with the Library of Congress Disbursing Office an amount estimated to cover the costs of their selected profile for one year. Profile costs are based on past history of purchases for the program. They are an estimate of the amount needed to purchase forthcoming or newly identified books in those categories.
- Serials are selected by title.
- New serials, reprints, expensive titles ($70.00 and above), documentaries and feature films in DVD format, and materials of limited interest are offered periodically to program participants via the SACAP listserv.
- Unbound monographs acquired for the program are bound before being shipped to participants.
- Participants may choose to receive their serials unbound on a current basis, or bound after the completion of the volume.
- Participants are billed annually for the estimated cost of publications, binding, and shipping. In addition, the Office charges an indirect and overhead charge over the estimated cost of materials to be acquired in a year. The current overhead charge for the South Asia Cooperative Acquisitions Program administered by the New Delhi Office is 23% over the cost of publications.
- Monthly reports on the status of participant accounts are mounted on the restricted SACAP web site, maintained by the office for the benefit of the participants. Fiscal reports account for moneys deposited for the acquisition of publications, as well as for binding and shipping expenses, and include the number of pieces on order and purchased, amount disbursed and obligated, and the balances in each of the participant's accounts as of the date of the report.
- Any amount not obligated at the end of a fiscal year will be used to defray the costs of the participant's estimated bill for the following year.
- In the event that the amount billed proves insufficient to cover the cost of materials, the Library of Congress will submit a supplementary bill to the participant to cover the shortfall, or will stop ordering publications for the participant, depending upon the instructions of the participant. As a government agency, the Library of Congress is prohibited by law from extending credit to participants.
- All monographs, new serials and other materials are shipped to participants with cataloging data enclosed with the item. Full MARC records for these materials can be downloaded by the receiving libraries from the bibliographic utilities or from the Library of Congress online catalog by using the LCCN.
Last Updated: June 15, 2011
