Shelf-ready: A cost-benefit analysis

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Abstract

Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library conducted a time-task cost study to compare the cost and processing time of shelf-ready books to non-shelf-ready books to determine if it could better use its human resources and if it should expand the use of shelf-ready to include its approval books. The results showed that shelf-ready was, on average, 5.7% cheaper, took 47% less processing time, and arrived on the shelves 33 sooner than books processed in-house. Based on the results of the study, the library moved its approval books to the shelf-ready program and was able to reallocate catalogers tasks.

Highlights

► We conducted a time-task cost study of shelf-ready materials to determine benefits. ► On average, shelf-ready books are 5.7% cheaper. ► On average, shelf-ready books took 47% less processing time. ► On average, shelf-ready books landed on the shelves 33 days sooner. ► Additional shelf-ready benefits include the ability to reallocate staff activities.

Introduction

Following the corporate business trend to use outside contractors for some of their operations, libraries in the early 1990s began seriously discussing, and then implementing the outsourcing of their technical service tasks to receive shelf-ready books. Outsourcing, as defined by the American Library Association (2010) “is the contracting to external companies or organizations, functions that would otherwise be performed by library employees” and shelf-ready is the label that became associated with outsourcing of technical service processes from box to shelf. By the turn of the century, outsourcing technical services, with its potential to improve efficiencies, reduce costs, and increase customer satisfaction (Baker, 1998), became commonplace. A significant number of libraries created partnerships with vendors reporting varying degrees of success (Sweetland, 2001).

Brigham Young University's (BYU) Harold B. Lee Library (HBLL), an Association of Research Libraries (ARL) library with over 9,500,000 volumes serving 30,000 students, resisted the trend for many years but in 2009 contracted with YBP Library Services (YBP) to receive shelf-ready books for firm orders. Knowing that there are many potential benefits to shelf-ready, we conducted a cost-benefit analysis to determine our in-house costs of cataloging, property stamping, barcoding, inserting a security device, and labeling books received from YBP, as well as the costs involved in outsourcing those tasks for firm orders. The purpose of this study was to 1) determine if we could better use our human resources in cataloging by switching to shelf-ready and 2) determine if we should move all approval books to be shelf-ready. We also wanted to see if outsourcing was the best use of our resources.

Section snippets

Literature review

Although technical service costs were a concern during the late nineteenth century, librarians, at this time, did not carry out cost studies and the published literature was “limited to discussions of costs, the importance of collecting cost data, and how such data could prove a boon to the profession” (Dougherty & Leonard, 1970 p. 16). During the early twentieth century, as librarians attempted to collect data, they relied on the diary study technique which required measuring technical service

Methodology

Many studies evaluating cataloging and processing costs use a total output cost methodology where costs are calculated by taking the dollar amount spent on annual cataloging salaries and supplies divided by the number of books cataloged in a year. If we use this methodology, the cost to the HBLL for each book cataloged is $47.64. This methodology provides libraries with a rough estimate of costs, but by not taking into account both the direct and the indirect costs, libraries cannot calculate

Results

We conducted this study to find out how much shelf-ready books cost in comparison to books that were not received shelf-ready; how quickly shelf-ready books were able to be placed on the shelf for patron use in comparison to books that were not received shelf-ready; and to find out how much processing time would be required for shelf-ready books compared to books that were not shelf-ready. Answers to these questions would help us determine 1) if we could better use our human resources in

Discussion

Most of the benefit of doing all processing in-house is that you have a guaranteed product and perhaps a more detailed and specialized record. Comparing the records we received from YBP to our records, it was clear that our records were more in line with our institutional standards. The YBP records were of very good quality though, and were sufficient for our needs. For us, the benefits of a shelf-ready program far outweigh the benefits of processing materials in-house.

After completing this

Conclusion

Many libraries have performed a variety of cost studies to determine what the cost and time savings might be and the possible benefits for technical service outsourcing. This study used the time/task methodology to get a more accurate accounting for the costs and the time from box to shelf. Comparing our current cost of in-house cataloging and processing with the cost of outsourcing those functions for our YPB books, our study empirically showed that outsourcing is indeed a cost effective way

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