Book Acquisitions and the Bangko Sentral

This is how I understand our long-time secretary’s explanations of a book acquisitions practice abandoned long before I was employed here.

Our library used to purchase books directly from foreign publishers and jobbers but stopped the practice sometime in the 1990's. The reason was about a Central Bank Circular regarding the bringing in or out of the country beyond a certain amount of money. Every time we pay for the books ordered in the UK or the US that amounts to more than what is expressed in that Central Bank Circular, which was always, we asked permission from the Central Bank for such transaction. The nearest Central Bank Offices from Leyte is Cebu, if you limit your purchases to four times a year that’s also a four-time trip to the Central Bank.

There was also the added burden of keeping up with the fluctuating peso-dollar exchange rate. Between the time a specific amount is requested for the ordered books and the time the money for a bank draft is released by the accounting department to the time we go to the bank, the exchange rate has changed a hundred times already. Your peso may become lesser than or bigger than your dollar account. If you find yourself with a lesser peso value, you go back to accounting to request for additional funds again. So you hope that your peso on hand is bigger than your dollar account when exchange is done. It came to a point where the banks refused to sell or change our Philippine peso with dollars anymore. The banks’ reason was that when they make the payments to the foreign publishers; the constant exchange fluctuations had them saddled with paying for the difference if their client's bank draft is smaller than the foreign account.


I suppose big libraries can resort to this if the current problems of book importation are not resolved. For us who recently have been buying mostly reprints because of budgetary constraints, this would not be feasible. All the intricate business transactions to be handled and dealt with regarding a direct importation are just but added burdens to a cash strapped library—budgets if not slashed are maintained at a certain amount without regard for the increasing value of books and government employed librarians had to justify every title acquired as essential and must have a concerned faculty’s endorsement to say the least—burdens that are lessened by jobbers and distributors.

Central Bank Circulars that might be of help.