The Harvard Library Finance Department is the primary resource for facilitating purchasing within the Libraries and can help you select a method of payment.

Harvard University continues to make efforts to increase participation levels by minority and women owned business enterprises, and small business enterprise, in the University's procurement process. Harvard seeks to create a climate that encourages these businesses to compete for Harvard business, and that eliminates potential obstacles to their participation.

Harvard encourages members of the community with purchasing responsibilities to contribute to creating a climate supporting of minority-owned business, women-owned business, and small business enterprise. Please check Harvard Strategic Procurement's new Supplier Diversity page for updated listings of recommended vendors and additional information and resources. 

Buy2Pay is a uniformed procurement platform for processing payments via check, ACH and (in the case of some foreign payments) wires. Please contact your supervisor or Finance regarding your department’s Buy2Pay setup and your role in processing payments.

University Issued Cards: The University offers several credit card options for circumstances where it is not possible to use Buy2Pay for payments to a vendor. This matrix is helpful in delineating the differences with the cards.

*Please note that both HL Finance and department management must pre-approve any credit card request (contact Finance for details)* The Library requires receipts for all expenses, including those under $75

• PCard: Harvard Purchasing Cards ("PCards") are University-liability credit cards issued in the names of authorized, trained individuals to purchase certain eligible goods and services in support of Harvard University business. Harvard Library Finance recommends PCards for high-volume, low-dollar transactions where it is not possible to use Buy2Pay.
• Corporate Card: The Corporate Card is the primary payment method for travel expenses incurred by Harvard employees. Paid employees who take at least three business trips per year and/or incur entertainment expenses of $5,000 or more per year are strongly encouraged to apply for a corporate card.
• Department Card: The Department Card is a Harvard Corporate Card taken out under the name of a Department. These cards require a departmental administrator who will be responsible for the timely processing of payments to the card via Concur. Department cards can be used to pay for travel expenses for guests & employees who do not have Corporate Cards as well as department expenses which cannot be put on a PCard, purchased through HCOM or invoiced. Harvard Library Finance recommends Department Cards for departments which will incur travel expenses, but not to the extent warranting individuals to obtain Corporate Cards.

Reimbursements: HL and HCL employees can submit reimbursements for work-related purchases that are approved expenses. The library requires itemized receipts for all dollar amounts for reimbursement.

Petty Cash: Petty cash is used in narrow instances at Harvard University. When other payment methods cannot be used, petty cash funds can cover minor expenses, such as reimbursement of staff members and visitors for small expenses such as taxi fares, postage, office supplies, generally not to exceed $50. Whenever possible, local units should use a PCard or have employees submit a reimbursement request instead of petty cash.

Wire Transfers: US Dollar and Foreign Currency (FX) Wires are wire requests payable to vendors or individuals internationally. Both payment requests are fielded through Buy-2-Pay and received by the Office of Treasury Management to be initiated and released. If paying a supplier with a US bank account, the university has preferred electronic payment methods like Paymode ACH (for paying an entity) or Zelle (for paying individuals).