All,
I'm also interested in answers to this
question since I oversee shelf prep, too. I've heard some comments about
wanting to try shelf-ready services here again. Several years ago we did a
shelf-ready pilot project and tried to compare the costs between in-house and
the vendor. I don't have the figures handy, but I know that our in-house
labeling costs per item were cheaper. Also, at that time shelf-ready
materials took 2 additional weeks to arrive from the vendor because of the
extra processing on their end. Since speedy acquisitions are important to
some researchers, the extra lag time was a negative factor. Also, there
was only one label size available and the call numbers were printed much
smaller than our users and the shelving staff prefer. So, while cost is
very important, there may be other service issues that are also important to
the user population.
________
Sue Davis
Preservation Librarian
Vanderbilt University Library
419 21st. Ave South
Nashville, TN
37240
615-322-2464
sue.davis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: Watson, Joseph
[mailto:jwatson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2008 2:53 PM
To: 'padg@xxxxxxx'
Subject: [padg] RE: outsourcing of
shelf preparation/processing
I've been thinking about this recently
too, and I'm particularly interested in finding out how many libraries that
do purchase shelf-ready materials did a detailed cost analysis to compare
their in-house processing cost to the cost of having an external vendor prepare
the books for the shelf. If you have compared the cost did you decide to
go with shelf-ready or not? If you did go with shelf-ready were you
therefore able to completely shut down your in-house processing unit?
Here at Middlebury we purchase a
significant quantity of books, particularly foreign language titles, from small
vendors who do not offer shelf-ready materials and we would therefore not be
able to completely shut down our processing unit even if we did go with shelf-ready
services from our major vendor. This means that the general overhead
expenses of space, equipment, heat/lights/etc., and administration would
continue pretty much as they are now. I did a comparison of the
actual cost of in-house processing (including all materials and labor) and
found that shelf-ready services would cost us 450% more per book than our
in-house shelf prep costs us now. The only other cost comparison I've
heard of is from another Oberlin group school and they determined it would cost
them 350% more per book.
What I'm really wondering is
this-- did anyone do this kind of cost comparison and decide to go
with shelf-ready books anyway? If so, why? Ann Marie says she
intends to compile the responses to share, so please either reply to her or to
both of us.
From: Ann Marie
Willer [mailto:amwillerala@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2008 3:20 PM
To: padg@xxxxxxx
Subject: [padg] outsourcing of
shelf preparation/processing
Hello all,
Does your library outsource some or all of its shelf preparation activities
(call number labels, security strips, barcodes, etc.)? I would appreciate
hearing your comments about cost-effectiveness and your experiences with
vendors. If a different department in your library coordinates shelf
prep, please forward this query to them.
I found a 2001 PADG discussion of shelf-ready services that focused
specifically on binding, but I did not find any discussion of the other shelf
prep activities. If you know of a past discussion thread that I missed,
please let me know!
Thanks,
Ann Marie
Ann Marie Willer
Preservation Services Librarian
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Building 14-0513
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-253-5692 phone
Send ALA
business to: AMWillerALA@xxxxxxxxx
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