Cataloging
Outsourcing --
Practice and Thinking
Amy Tsiang
Presented at the CEAL Committee on Technical Processing Program
Cataloging outsourcing has been a heated topic in library services. From time to time, we heard many different opinions from library professionals. The pros regard cataloging outsourcing as a trend in future library services, and the cons see it as a threat to the library profession. At this moment, I don’t think I have sufficient data or background to support either side. I would like to share our experience in outsourcing of cataloging backlogs, discuss the advantages and problems of our practice, and then raise some issues for discussion.
My
presentation includes three parts:
1. Initiation: Why did we need cataloging outsourcing?
2. Practice: How did we handle the cataloging outsourcing?
3. Thinking: what will be the future of cataloging outsourcing?
I.
Initiation: Why did we need cataloging
outsourcing?
The UCLA
East Asian Library has been pursuing an outsourcing project for cataloging
backlogs since October 2005, with a pilot project in September 2004. The cataloging outsourcing project at the
UCLA East Asian Library was not part of our strategic plan. To the opposite, it was initially a temporary
measure in dealing with cataloging backlogs.
In
2002-2003, the UCLA East Asian Library had two vacant positions of professional
librarians. At the time of budget
shortage in
In late
2004, we learned that we were able to fill only one of the two vacant librarian
positions. Obviously, even though we
could catch up on cataloging of current acquisitions, the cataloging backlog
could be there forever. Based on the
urgency of cataloging need and the budgetary constraint, we started to consider
outsourcing as an alternative for eliminating the backlog. With the support of the library
administration, we launched a pilot project for cataloging outsourcing.
We started
with outsourcing original cataloging of Chinese monographs. Due to the vacancy of Chinese professional
cataloger for two years, Chinese section has accumulated the largest backlog
among the three East Asian languages. In
early September 2004, Richard Siao, the head of the acquisition and processing
unit of the UCLA East Asian library, assisted me in selecting materials for
outsourcing. The selected Chinese
materials were from a backlog waiting for original cataloging. Then, a student assistant was assigned to
conduct bibliographic checking on OCLC-CJK, making sure that no copy cataloging
available in the database. Meanwhile,
Toshie Marra, the then interim head of the library’s cataloging unit, was
assigned to coordinate the project, by preparing cataloging specifications and
providing guidance for complex cataloging situations. After careful bibliographic checking, totally
234 volumes were shipped to a cataloging agency, via UPS, on September 9, 2004.
By
January 2005, all the shipped materials were returned to the East Asian Library,
after being cataloged. The 234 volumes
were cataloged into 219 titles. Of them,
186 were processed by original cataloging, 19 by simple copy-cataloging, and 14
by complex copy-cataloging. This means
that, during the period from September 2004 to January 2005, 33 titles, about
15 percent of all the titles outsourced, became available for copy-cataloging
at OCLC-CJK.
A student
assistant did bibliographic check on all the returned materials first. Then, Hong Cheng, our new Chinese Studies
Librarian, and Toshie Marra reviewed all the cataloging records. By the end of January, the pilot project was
concluded.
To assess
the cost-effectiveness, we kept track of the library staff time spent on the
project. The pilot project totally cost
the library 36 professional hours, 7 staff hours and 29 student assistant
hours, including preparing outsourcing cataloging specifications and providing
guidance for complex cataloging situations.
However, it was not reasonable to regard all these hours as extra cost
of the project. Bibliographic checking
by student assistants and selecting materials for cataloging are normal
procedures even for in-house cataloging.
Preparing outsourcing cataloging specifications and providing guidance
for complex cataloging situations by a professional librarian should be a
one-time procedure for all outsourcing projects, including future
projects.
After the
pilot project, we recommended expanding the outsourcing project to the entire
cataloging backlog, including Japanese and
Korean materials. Based on the size of
cataloging backlogs and current available manpower of the Library, outsourcing was
crucial in reducing cataloging backlog.
We hope that, as the outsourcing program continues as initially planed,
the East Asian Library will be able to finally eliminate the cataloging backlog
in foreseeable future.
II.
Practice: How did we handle the cataloging
outsourcing?
After
approval of the library administration, the UCLA East Asian Library started a
two-year cataloging outsourcing project in October 2005. According to the agreement with the cataloging
agency, the library plans to ship 400 titles to the agency each month,
including 200 Chinese titles, 100 Japanese titles and 100 Korean titles, for
either original or copy cataloging. The
agency will complete the cataloging within two months after receiving the
materials, and then ship back to the Library.
To date, three shipments, about 1,200 titles, have been completed. We expect the whole outsourcing project to be
concluded as planned. By October 2007,
the old cataloging backlog could be finally eliminated.
As for the
two-year outsourcing project, we set up the following library procedures:
Preferred
Criteria for selection:
After six
months of practice, we consider that the outsourcing of cataloging backlogs has
both obvious advantages and disadvantages.
We have to balance the benefit with the drawback. Especially, we need to evaluate and balance the
following issues from time to time.
First, let’s
consider cost and manpower. Outsourcing
did not lower the cost of cataloging. If
we calculate only the cataloging fee charged, outsourcing cataloging cost is
comparable to in-house cataloging, perhaps slightly higher. If adding shipping, insurance and other cost,
outsourcing is obviously more expensive than in-house, especially for copy
cataloging. However, the key question
is: do we have the manpower for doing all the cataloging in-house? Using UCLA as an example, if we had to handle
the cataloging backlog in-house, we would need at least two catalogers. The reality gave us no choice but to go outsourcing.
Second, we
need to balance quality and quantity.
Outsourcing focuses more on quantity, not on quality. It meets the need for putting more books on
shelves. Of course, it can also meet basic
requirements on quality, such as the minimum of one subject heading per title. The more quality we require, the higher price
we have to pay; it is just simple business.
In most cases, what you get is what available on the union catalog. And
thus at UCLA, we prefer to have all reference titles and important titles
cataloged in-house.
Third, we
have to solve the conflict with local network.
In our cataloging outsourcing project, a notable problem is how to
coordinate with the local network. On
the UCLA library system, acquisition units create an initial record for each
acquired library item. During
cataloging, cataloger needs to update the initial record for it to merge with
the cataloged record downloaded from OCLC.
Unless we give the outsourcing vendors the access to the local network,
there will be a problem in merging records.
When outsourcing the cataloging backlogs, we simply delete the initial
records from the local network. However,
for items awaiting invoice payment or other processing activities, the initial
records cannot be deleted. If we use our
staff to update such records, much time and effort would be required. Then we
might as well do our copy cataloging in
house as we are not realizing much staff time saving from outsourcing. So far we have no better solutions, and if
this conflict is not solved, I don’t think we should further expand the outsourcing
project.
III.
Thinking: What will be the future of cataloging
outsourcing?
What
we did in outsourcing is solely to eliminate cataloging backlogs. So far we have no plan to outsource cataloging
routinely. Outsourcing as a routine is a
much more controversial issue, which could affect the future of our library
profession.
In fact,
many libraries, especially public libraries and smaller libraries, are
outsourcing cataloging to private companies or agencies. These companies employ part-time workers, or
subcontract to individuals or even companies abroad. There are many
arguments over the issue of the outsourcing.
Here I summarize some of the opinions from both sides for your further discussion.
The pro
side of the issue regards outsourcing as a trend for future. They emphasize that, no matter or not,
outsourcing would play a major role in library, just like what is happening in
computer, entertainment and finance industries. The key points of the pros are:
1.
Outsourcing saves
library budget and speeds up the cataloging process.
Almost all the academic, public and school libraries are
facing serious budget cuts, so outsourcing gives libraries opportunities
reducing library staff.
2.
Outsourcing helps
library get much needed specialized service.
To many smaller libraries, cataloging materials in foreign
languages or in certain specialized field is always a challenge. Outsourcing can help such libraries get the
service they need.
3.
Outsourcing
centralizes the library functions to specialists in the fields.
Centralization and specialization is the direction for
cataloging. Outsourcing enables specialists to maximize their roles in
the fields. In recent years, major
libraries centralized their cataloging service into metadata centers. For smaller libraries, outsourcing makes
available similarly centralized services from specialists.
4.
Outsourcing goes
along with the trend of privatization and globalization.
Like it or not, outsourcing represents the trend of
privatization and even globalization.
Some people regard privatization as a way of cutting cost and raising
efficiency. To cataloging foreign
language materials, outsourcing might mean taking advantages of lower labor
cost abroad.
The con
side of the issue looks outsourcing as a threat to the library profession. The cons focus more on the long-term effects
on library services. At the time we
launched outsourcing project for cataloging backlogs, the union organization
expressed their concerns over library jobs.
Quite a few librarians who heard of the project also openly expressed
their oppositions. We can expect more
concerns and oppositions if cataloging outsourcing become routine in library
services. The main concerns over outsourcing
are with the following aspects.
1.
Outsourcing diminishes
library profession.
Librarianship is a profession that requires many years of
formal education and even more years of continuing education. Private outsourcing companies and/or agents
might hire people lacking formal education and training for lower cost. Using outsourcing to replace in-house
cataloging and using teaching faculty for collection development, together with
Googlization, could eventually eliminate librarianship in many institutions of education and higher education while some
accrediting groups tend to drop library services from the accrediting
requirements.
2.
Outsourcing lowers
library’s service quality by using less skilled part-time or foreign workers.
Private outsourcing companies and agents mainly use
part-time workers and subcontractors.
Due to lack of professional education and training and lack of quality
control, they might create substandard records.
We would see more duplicate and substandard records appearing at OCLC
and other databases, which is adding burden to records management. However it should be noted that some private
companies also use skilled catalogers from major libraries and take advantage
of their training and expertise.
3.
Outsourcing
reduces the job market for permanent fulltime library workers.
The cost saved from outsourcing is actually from cutting
staff benefits, not from productivity or efficiency. Outsourcing companies and agencies use mostly
part-time workers or subcontractors with no fringe benefits or retirement
pensions. So, the library budget saving
from outsourcing is achieved at the expense of library workers, or I might say,
through the unscrupulous exploitation of library workers.
4.
Outsourcing moves
American jobs abroad.
While library jobs in the
In general,
the pros of outsourcing look at the issue more from the point of management,
and the cons of outsourcing look at the issue more from the point of
socio-economy. Finally, I would like to
share with you a totally different opinion for discussion. Some people view
cataloging outsourcing simply as an inevitable yet a transitional mode of
library practice. Cataloging as a way
of information / knowledge management, is quickly loosing ground to massive
speedy metadata processing / retrieving.
Google is already digitizing full-texts of library books in great
multitude today and they will not be taken by surprise someday to see the bulk
of cataloging as we know it, which we have cherished and practiced for so long,
evolves into a totally new library operation.
Such an operation would be in the charge of managers rather than
catalogers and most likely, it would be outsourced for efficiency and economy.