2000 CD#59.1 The Impact of Outsourcing and Privatization on Library Services and Management

The authors conducted a survey on outsourcing of cataloging in academic libraries in order to determine the extent of outsourcing being done in academic libraries and the overall success of such projects. The survey instrument included questions about factors that might affect the decision to outsource, what reasons libraries had for outsourcing or not outsourcing, what was being outsourced, and how vendors were chosen. Libraries were also asked to evaluate the success of outsourcing projects. The results show that outsourcing of cataloging is not a strong trend in academic libraries, but that libraries which outsourced were generally pleased with results. There also seems to be a correlation between size of collection and number of new titles cataloged annually and the decision to outsource.

/pdf/a-survey-on-the-outsourcing-of-cataloging-in-academic-1qw9ncegeb.pdf

A Survey on the Outsourcing of Cataloging in Academic Libraries

Outsourcing the catalog department: A meditation inspired by the business and library literature

Learning to compete: Competition, outsourcing, and academic libraries

Purpose – Outsourcing is a tool that has been used in companies for decades. However, it has taken much longer for this tool to be implemented in libraries and documentation centers, especially since they are eminently public entities at an international level. The use of such services has increased in recent years and has been especially heightened by the economic crisis in all areas of the aforementioned centers. However, it is important to understand the basis of this type of tool in order to look beyond the fiscal and economic benefits and attempt to see the possibilities provided by the use of these types of services for improving the dynamics of organizations and even creating new professional profiles within the organization itself This study aims to address this issue.Design/methodology/approach – The outsourcing of services need not always lead to a loss of know‐how, and when working from the heart of the organization it is a tool that can even be used to support a culture of change and the revit...

/pdf/outsourcing-as-a-change-management-tool-in-libraries-and-14rj998bfb.pdf

Outsourcing as a change management tool in libraries and documentation centers

A survey of selected library materials jobbers, cataloging agents, and library consortia shows that communication standards, vendor and library automation, and new partnerships among vendors and libraries are leading to greater opportunities for outsourcing acquisitions, cataloging, and collection development. Currently libraries can depend on vendors for preorder searching, verification, and claiming functions as well as copy and original cataloging. Libraries can receive shelf-ready materials from jobbers or cataloging agents; those that collect mainstream materials have the most options; other must shop among vendors. Collection development is the function least changed by automation, but materials become full partners in the development of contract services. To do this, librarians must understand the evolving roles of the traditional partners and the costs and risks involved

Toward a new world order : a survey of outsourcing capabilities of vendors for acquisitions, cataloging and collection development services : Outsourcing

M. Sasse

Papers

Toward a new world order : a survey of outsourcing capabilities of vendors for acquisitions, cataloging and collection development services : Outsourcing