Request for Proposal or Run for Protection? Some Thoughts on RFPs from a Librarian and a Bookseller

Increasingly, academic librarians are using the RFP (Request for Proposal) to assist them in selecting materials vendors. While this has been a common practice for integrated library system selection for some time, it is still a relatively new phenomenon in the acquisitions field. The authors, one a library administrator and the other a bookseller, review the pros and cons, pitfalls and benefits of using the RFP method for purchasing library materials