Partnering with vendors for increased productivity in technical services or, bleeding edge technology

Gammon, Julia A.

doi:10.1016/s0364-6408(97)00019-7

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…The University of Akron reduced its processing time from four weeks to one week using a shelf-ready system (Gammon, 1997); Michigan State University also claims processing time of one week after outsourcing but does not say what it was before the project began (Hyslop, 1995). Ohio State also reduced its processing time by two to three weeks while Huddersfield cut about ten days from its processing just by use of partial outsourcing for cataloging and classification functions (Weaver et al, 1999).…”

Section: Saving Timementioning

confidence: 99%

Outsourcing library technical services – what we think we know, and don’t know

Sweetland

2001

The Bottom Line

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Introductioǹ`Outsourcing'', or the use of outside contractors for important parts of a business's operations, seems to have begun in the automobile industry in the 1980s, but has become an issue in the library community since Wright State University eliminated its cataloging department in the early 1990s. Certainly, the timing of discussions in the library professions relates to three very prominent cases, starting with the elimination of the cataloging department at Wright State University in 1993, followed by outsourcing the entire library of the law firm of Baker & MacKenzie in 1995, and the elimination of both cataloging and selection from the entire public library system of the state of Hawaii in the same year.Since then, hundreds of publications, conference papers and other discussions of the subject have appeared in the library world. While the most complete listing of this material appears in the ALA sponsored report on the subject (Martin et al., 2000), useful selective annotated bibliographies are also available in Colver (1997) and Be Ânaud and Bordeianu (1999). Although the vast majority of this material tends to polemics and how-we-did-it descriptions, there are also a number of analyses of both the philosophical and practical issues raised. DefinitionStrangely, given the interest in outsourcing, there is little consensus on what the term actually means, a problem possibly related to the use of terminology from outside librarianship (Miller, 1995).Richard Abel, the founder of approval plans, defines outsourcing as``simply the contracting out of a variety of`backroom' functions to suppliers in the private sector'' (Abel, 1998), but then gives use of Library of Congress printed cards as an example, although LC is clearly not in the``private sector'' . Other writers use terminology similar to Baker's:``a method employed by an organisation to hire or contract with an outside individual, vendor, or agency toThe author

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Section: Saving Timementioning

confidence: 99%

Outsourcing library technical services – what we think we know, and don’t know

Sweetland

2001

The Bottom Line

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“…14 • This is a good example of taking a theoretical idea (e.g., Wittenberg's) and implementing it in a real library.…”

Section: Additional Outsourcing: Shelf-ready Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using automation in technical services to foster innovation

Diedrichs

1998

The Journal of Academic Librarianship

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“…25 At the 1996 ALA Annual Conference, Gammon discussed changes at the University of Akron Bierce Library with the implementation of services from Blackwell North America, which she referred to as a partnership to provide better service to the library's users. 26 Allen and Hirshon examined the recent growth in collaboration by academic libraries, which was demonstrated by the growth of consortia. 27 They based this growth on the concept that more can be done by working together than alone.…”

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confidence: 99%