Outsourcing Library Technical Services Operations: : Practices in Academic, Public and Special Libraries

Citation

Morgan, S. (1998), "Outsourcing Library Technical Services Operations: : Practices in Academic, Public and Special Libraries", Library Review, Vol. 47 No. 8, pp. 412-413. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.1998.47.8.412.10

This book contains a series of 16 case studies across three library sectors ‐ academic (11 cases), public (three) and special (two). Although these groupings provide a somewhat unbalanced view in terms of quantity, there are at least two common factors: the complexity of the outsourcing process and the unique nature of the library‐vendor relationship. Outsourcing technical services is a complex business because it is strategic, involves a range of staff and agencies, has financial implications and makes use of the new technologies. Most of the case studies involve cataloguing practices which have often been tailored to local circumstances and requirements. This bringing together of generations of library work on standards and protocols and the powerful capabilities of current computing and telecommunications technology creates exciting but complex challenges for librarians and vendors alike. Which brings us to the second common factor: the partnership between library and vendor. Outsourcing is an activity that has an impact on both. Staff at both organisations are involved in making the process work. Indeed, one of the public library systems managers feels that “vendor personnel should be viewed as extensions of library staff and should be kept apprised of changes in policies, procedures and practices… The more knowledge each partner has, the more successful outsourcing will be.” Synergy is a word that crops up regularly in these pages.

This collection managed to erase my misconception concerning the whole outsourcing philsophy: that it was purely and simply a means of reducing or eliminating costs. Of course, efficiency may be one reason for outsourcing but certainly not the only one. The impression given here is that cost savings can be a pleasant by‐product of outsourcing initiatives. Other reasons, taken from the case studies, include improving the quality of cataloguing, restructuring library services, dealing with backlogs and creating name and subject authority files.

The case studies offer a range of contexts in which successful outsourcing programmes have taken place. Besides purchasing catalogue records, examples include processing of books and other material (music scores, foreign material, ephemeral trade literature), outsourcing hypertext markup of tables of contents for electronic journals as well as document delivery services. The case studies are promoted in the book as being successful and therefore have the potential to be adopted as models of good practice. At one level this can be useful since each case demonstrates “a good way of doing it”. At another level I felt myself craving for examples of mistakes, errors of judgement, negotiating impasses or technological barriers. Case studies can also be very effective in showing you how not to do something!

In general this is an interesting snapshot of contemporary outsourcing as it relates to Canada and the USA. Each case study is concisely written with just sufficient detail to grasp its background and context and is examined from the perspective of its original objectives, effectiveness, operational success and outcomes. The annotated bibliography (28 pages) offers a helpful avenue for those wishing to pursue further some aspects of the outsourcing process.