How far have we come? benchmarking time and costs for monograph purchasing

• Published in: Library collections, acquisitions, & technical services acquisitions, & technical services, 1999-03, Vol.23 (1), p.47-59
• Main Author: Slight–Gibney, Nancy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquisition and access: development policy, licenses, censorship; Benchmark; Collection management; Computerized technical services; Costs; Exact sciences and technology; Feather River Institute; Information and communication sciences; Information science. Documentation; Information service management; Library and documentation centre management; Oregon University; Sciences and techniques of general use; Time; University libraries
• ISSN: 1464-9055; 1873-1821
• DOI: 10.1016/S1464-9055(98)00125-0

The University of Oregon Library System conducted a benchmark study during autumn 1997 to determine time and costs for monograph purchasing, cataloging, and processing. The goals of the study were first to assess if it would be cost effective to contract out some or all of the cataloging and final processing for some monographs, and secondly, to provide data that could be used as a management tool and shared with other libraries. The acquisition and QuickCat costs per unit for various types of purchases were calculated showing that cost alone would not be a sufficient reason to outsource or purchase shelf-ready books. However, opportunity costs should also be considered. Additionally, the data are compared with a task analysis study conducted in 1982/83, just prior to automating.