OUTSOURCING AUTHORITY WORK
1998
by
Amy Job
Scenario: You have millions of Clemens, Samuel Langhorne headings
in your catalog. New materials being cataloged come in with Twain,
Mark. Now there are two look-ups for patrons and staff! What do you
do? Answer: To the rescue with authority control.
The definition of authority control involves the recording of the
proper forms of names, subjects, or series used in a catalog in order to
provide consistent forms of headings and cross references directing
searchers to the authorized forms used in the catalog.
As we know, that involves the use of established headings and see and
see also references.
Authorized forms must be represented by an authority record and as
names of entries change, related bibliographic and authority records in
the catalog must be modified to reflect the changes.
Authority control makes user searches effective. Catalogers must search
in order to maintain the integrity of the file. In its purest form, authority
work involves the creation of an authority record via a workform.
In the day-to-day activity, authority work also includes the checking and
verification of newly imported headings and records into the database.
Headings that do not match a set of authority records already in the
database then need to be checked against the LC Marc Authority tapes
and changes made as needed. Even a library receiving records from LC
will occasionally encounter modified headings as LC changes its
policies. Libraries importing records from other sources will generally
experience more headings needing updating.
Original record creation and verification of existing headings is time
consuming. Add to authority work, technical services staff being
involved in new cataloging, gifts, retrospective projects, and inventory
cleanups. A library may opt to outsource both cataloging and authority
work to the same contractor; a library may decide to outsource its
cataloging to one contractor and its authority work to another
contractor; or a library may decide to outsource only its authority work.
The library must determine which option best meets its internal needs
and also utilizes the strengths of the contractor, who may excel in only
one aspect of technical services processing.
The following core questions are applicable to a variety of
outsourcing options. They are intended to help a library learn the
contractor's method and what the library will gain from outsourcing
authority control:
1. Can the contractor not only provide authority processing of
bibliographic records but also furnish all relevant authority records that
are new to the library's local catalog? Can the library opt to receive only
new LC authority records?
2. Which authority files does the contractor utilize?
(Check all that apply.)
___ Library of Congress name authority file
___ Library of Congress subject authority file
___ local library authority file
___ other authority file; describe
3. Does the contractor have access to other reference materials needed
to establish headings for new authority records not found in the LC
authority files?
4. Will the contractor automatically provide the library with updated
authority records as replacement records are received from the Library
of Congress?
5. Can a library opt to have the contractor suppress blind crossreferences so they will not be displayed to the public on the local
system?
6. Can a library opt to have the contractor strip blind cross- references
from authority records or change "see also" references to "see"
references, according to the needs of a library's local catalog?
7. Which type of authority records can the contractor supply? (Check all
that apply)
____ name
____ series
____ uniform title
____ subject
____ both name and subject authority record if a heading is
valid as both a name and a subject
8. Will the authority records be supplied in the U.S. Marc Formats for
authority data?
9. Can the library specify the types of authority records that the
contractor should supply? (Check all that apply)
____ all LC authority records, regardless of the presence of
cross references
____only LC authority records containing cross-references
____minimal level, non-lc authority records, based on data
appearing in bibliographic record headings
10. Which of the following features can the contractor provide? (Check
all that apply)
____ remove obsolete subfield codes from bibliographic
records
____ delete obsolete tags from bibliographic records
____ change obsolete tagging on bibliographic records to
currently defined tags
____"flip" an outdated heading on a bibliographic record to the
currently authorized heading
____ list headings new to the database for manual review
11. How does the contract handle subject headings that split into two
or more headings
12. Can the contractor use headings that the library specifies (e.g.,
Clemens not Twain, Hunter not Mcbain)
13. If a heading that is divided by subordinates has no matching
authority record, will the heading be broken down into its component
parts for individual parts matching?
14. Where no match occurs because of a lack of data, titles or qualifiers
in a personal name bibliographic heading, will the missing data
automatically be appended to the bibliographic headings from the
authority record?
Whether a library chooses to outsource both its authority work and
cataloging or only one of these activities, the resulting product will be
either new Marc records for the library's database or cards to be filed in
the library's local catalog.
Following are some questions a library might raise with the
contractor to determine how a library will need to handle the output:
1. Can the contractor supply records to the library electronically? If so,
describe the local system requirements to receive records exported
from the contractor.
2. What transaction tapes, cartridges, or diskettes are supplied?
____ what is the frequency of production of tapes?
____ how are those records shipped (UPS, U.S. Mail, Federal
express?)
____ can the library obtain a snapshot tape of holdings with a
particular time frame?
3. If the contractor can supply machine readable tapes, check the
applicable specifications which the contractor can handle:
Record format character set (asci, lc or oclc ansel)
Tcp up and down load character sets (ala,including diacritics; cyrillic;
cjk; arabic; hebrew; other non-roman sets)
4. What kind of work statistics does the contractor supply to the the
library (check all that apply)
___ number of headings updated
___ number of name/title authority records provided
___ number of subject authority records provided
___ number of series authority records provided
___ number of lc authority records provided
___other (describe)
Financial considerations for outsourcing
A. contractor's charges
1.describe all costs
2.can the contractor establish a flat per-title charge?
3.does the contractor charge for developing specifications for a
contract?
4. Does the contractor charge additional fees for identifying
problem titles or for flagging records to be reviewed by the library?
5. Does the contractor charge a set-up fee?
6. If the contractor uses a standard contract, is there an
additional charge per customization of the contract?
7. How is billing handled?
8. Can the library establish a deposit account with the contractor
for payment of charges?
9. Describe the frequency and types of financial and statistical
reports provided to the library related to the activities performed by
the contractor.
B. in-house costs incurred:
1. What are the in-house costs for coordinating the work with
the contractor?
2. What are the pre-outsourcing in-house costs for preparatory
work before materials are sent to the contractor? For maintaining an
inventory of materials sent to the contractor?
3. What are the costs the library will still incur following
processing by the contractor?
A case study of the determination of need for outsourcing
authority control
William Paterson University of New Jersey is presently utilizing DRA.
An authority tape was run on the records in the data base when we
entered DRA in 1992. In 1997 the entire database of approximately
281,000 records was sent out to Blackwell (we were the last
customer they had before they quit the business.) We needed a base
set for our catalog. The process was done as an rfp of 20 pages and
came back at $29,250.00 (part of a grant).
We received updated records and printouts of approximately 8,500
duplicate bibliographic and incorrect records. Those problem records
needed to be corrected and they turned into a project.
Added to that project was our inventory cleanup which consumed at
least 20 hours of staff time per week. An additional project was the
pseud-marc project overlaying LC records on the Marc-like records
created by Autographics on our approximately 253,000 pre-AACR2
bibliographic records when we migrated to DRA from CLSI.
In 1998 we began to look at options to maintaining authority control on
newly cataloged titles. A cost analysis was prepared for on-going
authority work as follows. Staff involved included 2 professionals, 1
part-time paraprofessional and 3 support clerical staff members.
On-going in-house work came to $24,373.20 or approximately
$24,000 and included 1400 hours per year or 28 hours per week of staff
time. Those figures did not include computer use or overhead costs.
WPUNJ ANNUAL* ON-GOING AUTHORITY WORK COSTS
Process
1. Verify
headings -
Costs
Staff
PT
paraprof.
$/hr.
$12.12
#hrs/wk Total
5
$60.60/wk =$2727.00
part of
checking
process V1record on
prod.slip or
p-marc
printout?, v
Slips with?
are put in
separate
box
Clerical:
1.
2.
3.
$14.22
$16.92
$15.00
5
5
5
$71.10/wk=$3199.50
$84.60/wk =$3807.00
$75.00/wk =$3375.00
A. If in LC 1.
a.f.,
auth.record
is exported
to Marion
&
heading(s)
updated.
As needed,
GS&R
is
invoked.
2.
$37.83
3
$113.49/wk=$5106.05
$23.78
3
$71.34/wk =$3409.30
B. If
1.
heading is
not in LC
a.f.,
construction
of heading
$37.83
1
$37.83/wk=$1670.35
2.
Slips Professional
with
unverified
headings
are checked
in
LC
Auth.file.
is checked
in
Cat.Desktop
& auth.
heading is
constructed
in Marion.
Heading is
updated &
as needed,
GS&R is
invoked.
2.
$23.78
1
$23.78/wk=$1070.10
Total costs: $24,373.20
* Based upon 45 wks/yr. Study conducted in May of 1998
The first run for newly added records from 1998 to 1999 cost
$2,952.10 which included set-up fees with the contractor.
The next run in 2000 was $1,702.00 for on-going treatment.
We are planning a 5 year update on the entire data base.
As shown in the example above, rather dramatic cost and time savings
can be realized by outsourcing. Even with the yearly program with a
five year complete treatment, occasional headings are discovered in
the course of searching and are globally replaced as needed.
And, of course, original cataloging includes a component of authority
work that should be included in any study.