This report presents the results of a study the objective of which was to determine how widespread automated acquisitions systems are in North Texas' Association of Higher Education (AHE) libraries and what the characteristics of these systems are. The paper is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the paper and an overview of the study. In chapter 2 the review of the literature is discussed in four categories: (1) general bibliographies on acquisitions; (2) early automated acquisitions systems of the 1960s; (3) automated acquisitions systems in the 1970s; and (4) automated acquisitions systems in the 1980s. Chapter 3 identifies the methodology and includes the survey objectives and definitions of terms. The study findings and a discussion of the characteristics of libraries with automated acquisitions systems and the characteristics of the systems are given in chapter 4. Chapter 5 presents a summary of the study, its conclusions, and recommendations for further studies. Concluding the paper are a list of the AHE institutions, the survey cover letter, survey questionnaire, and a map of AHE North Texas Libraries. It is noted that two of the study's major conclusions are: (1) libraries are increasingly realizing the need to automate acquisitions; and (2) the library consortium can benefit from automated acquisitions because it significantly improves collection management, especially in times of budget cuts and escalating materials costs. (23 references/17 tables) (MAB)