Outsourcing - giving librarians back to their isolated clients

Abstract

This paper focuses on the opportunity sought by two special librarians to concentrate their time and efforts on direct services to their clients by outsourcing their technical services operations. The reasons for librarians to consider outsourcing as a management tool are discussed, and an outline of the trial is provided.

The latter section of the paper views the project from the outsourcing agency's perspective. A summary of the benefits and problems for the outsourcing agency is included, as are the future implications for the agency and the project itself.

In these days of special library closures, outsourcing can provide opportunities for librarians to interact more directly with clients. In this instance, outsourcing has allowed librarians the time to more regularly visit their clients in their workplaces. This is especially important when distance separates librarians from their clients.

Outsourcing has assisted in overcoming the tyranny of distance between librarians and their clients within NSW Agriculture.

Introduction

Librarians often see outsourcing as a threat to their livelihood, and an attempt to devalue their skills. But for small, specialised libraries, outsourcing can be of enormous benefit to the library staff by freeing up their time to devote to other services.

Two of NSW Agriculture's nine staffed libraries participated in a six month trial of the outsourcing of their monograph technical services to CAVAL (Cooperative Action by Victorian Academic Libraries). This was a new venture for both parties. CAVAL had been supplying NSW Agriculture with original cataloguing services for some time. The purchase of material, however, was a new activity for CAVAL. For a per item fee, they provided the acquisition, cataloguing (ABN), end processing and supply of items requested.

The libraries who participated in this trial were CB Alexander Agricultural College, "Tocal", at Paterson in the Hunter Valley, and Tamworth Centre for Crop Improvement in the north-west of NSW. Together these two libraries provide resources and services to clients at 17 different locations throughout their regions. Each library region is staffed by only two staff - one librarian and a clerical officer. Departmental librarians are necessarily physically remote from many of their clients.

Background

Library services are successful within departments or agencies when they are aligned to the strategies and operational imperatives of their organisation. (Missingham p.136)

NSW Agriculture's mission statement is as follows:

We will lead food and fibre research and be recognised as the premier public provider of information and services for the food and fibre industries of New South Wales. (NSW Agriculture Annual Report 1997-98 p.3)

As special librarians, we believe that our role is to align ourselves with NSW Agriculture's mission statement and support the activities and research of our clients as we work together towards this vision.

NSW Agriculture has a fulltime staff of over 2000, ranging from senior research scientists to farm assistants, and their information needs vary accordingly. Our clients include extension/advisory officers such as district agronomists; technical officers and assistants working on specific projects, regulatory officers, economists, biometricians, engineers, veterinarians, college lecturers, administrative staff, plant pathologists, irrigation officers, horticulturalists, and even agricultural college students. Some of our clients are world experts in their specialised fields. Only a handful are based in Sydney. The remainder are distributed across more than 80 different offices and research centres throughout NSW. NSW Agriculture also has nine Centres of Excellence throughout the state. Three of these centres - for cropping and northern farming systems (Tamworth), beef (Armidale) and cotton (Narrabri) fall into the Tamworth library region.

Why outsource?

Outsourcing releases library managers' time away from non-core services and activities...to where it can be better spent on promoting the output of their key core services more efficiently and effectively. (Sidhu p.151)

Many libraries have had outsourcing imposed upon them, whilst others have chosen to implement strategies that include outsourcing as a management tool for the future. NSW Agriculture's Library Service chose to minimise a perceived threat by grasping it as an opportunity to take control, rather than consider it as something imposed upon us. In reality, libraries have always contracted out in one sense or another - journal subscriptions and retrospective conversion of records being common contenders that NSW Agriculture has also used as opportunities to concentrate on other activities.

...contracting out, when used as a means of delivering better service, is a tool of management, rather than a threat. (Haythornthwaite p.93)

The potential for outsourcing is a concept that librarians can no longer afford to ignore. Outsourcing provides the means to concentrate the special librarian's efforts on services of current and future benefit to clients. In his article Learning to compete: competition, outsourcing and academic libraries, Renaud comments that organisations face barriers to entry when they attempt to offer new services (Renaud p.86). These barriers can include the high cost of creating the new service, legal and regulatory obstacles, and competition from others providing comparable services. Conversely, libraries encounter barriers to exit when they find themselves obliged to provide services because they have always done so, thus draining ...the resources needed to enter new markets. (Renaud p.86) These exit barriers may be emotional or psychological in forcing us out of our comfort zones, and asking us to give up traditional roles and activities. Should libraries continue to offer these accepted services at the cost of providing new services, and at the cost of repositioning themselves in the future information market?

Sometimes libraries are so focused on existing services and technical processes that the value to the clients appears remote, or is not the central guiding principle of library services. (Missingham p.134)

For NSW Agriculture, the value of our acquisition and cataloguing service is all but invisible to our clients. What is important to them is that they receive the book that they need. If another agency can provide this service, at an acceptable level and cost, the time saved by the librarian can be invested in new services of more visible and direct benefit to both the librarian and the client. For the librarian, these benefits are a higher profile in the organisation, and opportunities to learn new skills, and be marketable in the future information environment. For the client, the benefits include more tailored and personalised service from their librarian, who can spend more time actually with their clients. We cannot ignore the emerging demands of clients for information services, to concentrate on backroom tasks, important though they may seem. As Renaud says, libraries need to ...shift resources to high value, future-oriented work. (Renaud p.89). We need to understand the broader trends, and future direction of our services, and let go of old and comfortable roles. (Renaud p.88) Sometimes it is hard to accept that we can no longer do everything ourselves!

For NSW Agriculture's librarians, letting go of some of these "comfortable" roles, has enabled us to focus on strategic value-added activities (Sidhu p.144), including the provision of desk-top access to a number of electronic products and services. These include the networking of CD-ROM products across the Department's 80 geographical locations. These products allow for the retrospective searching of databases by interested clients at their own desk-tops. Other more recently introduced services include the internet based Current Contents Search® via the OVID Web Gateway, which allows for individually-tailored profiles to be established for clients, and by clients, with the results automatically delivered to e-mail addresses. We are also currently trialling access to several full-text electronic journal subscriptions. These new services, among others, have resulted in an increased need and expectation for training by our clients. Many are overwhelmed and excited by the possibilities and potential that these services provide. This in turn results in an ...ever-increasing demand and expectations from clients for electronic information and high value-added services that are targeted and tailored to meet specific needs. (Sidhu p.143)

This demand has meant that librarians are spending far more time tailoring services to the expectations and needs of individual clients who are increasingly demanding more sophisticated services. From where does this time come? The time saved on "back-room" tasks allows us to make ourselves even more indispensable to our clients than ever before! We must take advantage of this opportunity to secure our role and our future in the organisation, and indeed, in our profession. Sometimes we need to accept that the backroom backlog will never disappear, and that this is not our most important task!

Library staff...need to...be continuously improving their service both as providers of good services and as good managers of resources. (Missingham p.138)

The outsourcing trial, discussed below, has allowed these librarians to use their time differently and more directly than in the past. In common with many special librarians, we find that greater demand is now placed upon us to provide services to our clients rather than simply resources. Ultimately, our role, must be determined by the needs and demands placed upon us by our clients. As Renaud says, Libraries need to be guided by customer needs rather than internal preferences. (Renaud p.88).

Outline of trial

The procedures for the trial were written by NSW Agriculture's Library Services Manager, Marilyn Hawkett, in consultation with CAVAL. A six month trial from June 1st, 1997 to November 30th, 1997 was established. Monograph technical services operations including ordering, cataloguing and classification, adding records to ABN and physical processing were the activities selected for the trial. These were chosen as discrete operations in the knowledge that if the trial was unsuccessful, it would be relatively easy for the librarians to resume these activities. Selection of material was never considered as a candidate for outsourcing, as this requires considerable knowledge of clients and their needs in such a scientific and specialised area .

A deposit account was established with CAVAL for each of the participating libraries.

Ordering

An order form was designed in conjunction with CAVAL. These forms were faxed directly to CAVAL. Each order form included a unique order number, which would be quoted on all correspondence between the libraries and CAVAL. The order form included the option for the librarians to nominate a preferred supplier, and assign a call number. CAVAL selected a supplier if necessary. CAVAL also added "on order" details to ABN holdings statements.

End processing

CAVAL was responsible for the physical end processing of each item which included: - book pockets, date due slips, spine labels, loan and shelf list cards. Each item was delivered to the library in a shelf-ready condition.

Classification and cataloguing

CAVAL proposed a classification number for each item, unless a call number had already been specified, enabling the librarian to approve or make amendments/additions as required eg. Add R for reference material, or amend classification number to better fit existing collection. Standard subdivisions were applied to classification numbers, including subdivisions for Australia down to state level. The librarian also indicated the manner in which the holdings were to be shown on ABN. CAVAL added the holdings statement, and where necessary, upgraded the existing record to high-standard ABN cataloguing level.

Supply of items

Items were supplied in fortnightly batches. Each book was accompanied by two shelf list and one loan card, and a report sheet containing all relevant details. CAVAL supplied each item at the supplier's cost plus the agreed CAVAL fee per item. The report also provided the breakdown of CAVAL's charges for ordering, end processing, classification and cataloguing, and supply of items.

Reports

At the end of the trial CAVAL provided each library with a list of all titles supplied, as well as those that were still on order, or being processed.

Permanent records

CAVAL agreed to retain records for seven years of all details relating to the trial. These records will be made available to NSW Agriculture should the need arise.

Results of trial

Both libraries sent their orders in two batches to CAVAL. Tocal placed orders for a total of 64 books. Tamworth placed orders for 85 books.

On the whole, those titles requested by Tocal were less scientific than those orders placed by Tamworth. A much higher number of Tocal orders were Australian titles (only 6 Tocal titles were published overseas).

Evaluation of trial

Centralised ordering through CAVAL was an advantage, removing the need to deal with a number of suppliers and the payment of numerous invoices. We received monthly reports from CAVAL, either by e-mail or fax, with an update of our accounts, and number of items supplied etc.

Librarians were able to specify particular suppliers if required, and always retained the right of approval over call numbers, supplier and cost of the book.

Holdings information on ABN became more consistent, as NSW Agriculture developed and specified standards for CAVAL to add holdings information for our many locations.

On the whole, the librarians were quite satisfied with the classification numbers proposed by CAVAL, although occasional alterations were made to better suit our own collections. Without the item present it was difficult to verify author/editor details for the call number. Occasionally, librarians slightly altered call numbers upon receipt of an item.

The standardisation of procedures left little room for the individual end-processing practices that had developed over the years at different library locations. For those librarians who had always 'done it this way' there was some loss of control.

Attaching a dollar figure to technical services activities was a new experience for the librarians. Although technical services costs in both time and money, when undertaken inhouse it is difficult to evaluate in monetary terms.

On occasions, the price of an item was a little higher than anticipated by the librarians, due to supplier price differences. On the whole, the librarians felt that the time saved in dealing with one supplier (CAVAL) was worth the slight financial cost sometimes incurred.

Other disadvantages included minor typing errors on shelf list cards, and liaising with different staff at CAVAL.

Where are we now?

At the end of the trial, NSW Agriculture agreed to participate in a further 7 month trial, from December 1997 to the end of June 1998, with all nine libraries taking part. Following this second trial, it was agreed by all librarians to continue placing the majority of their book orders with CAVAL - a practice that continues in 1999.

A number of slight alterations were made to the original trial procedures. Some changes were made to help suit each individual library. Ie. Physical dimensions of each book were included in the e-mailed workform, so that individual librarians could assign an item to a quarto section or pamphlet file if desired.

Estimated cost became a compulsory field for orders. CAVAL agreed to contact the librarian if the actual price of any item was more than $100 above the estimated price. Librarians also have the option of placing "rush" orders with CAVAL, for a small extra fee. The "deposit" system originally established with CAVAL was replaced, with librarians now receiving an invoice with each batch of books.

Orders are now transmitted largely by e-mail, with an Inmagic file attachment. A standard Inmagic report was developed to be used by librarians in this way. Faxed orders are still acceptable.

Conclusion

By enthusiastically taking up the challenge to outsource, NSW Agriculture's librarians have released valuable time from backroom tasks. This has enabled us to focus on providing improved services to our geographically dispersed clients. Along with the adoption of new information technologies, librarians have taken the opportunity to develop new skills, and introduce new services, which have given our remote clients access to the latest information products. We are able to travel more frequently within our region, consulting with clients and providing individual training. This has assisted in overcoming the barriers of distance that separate us. Special librarians need to be in the forefront of service delivery if they want to survive as information professionals in the future.

Adopting outsourcing of technical services as a permanent workpractice provides one opportunity to concentrate on visible services of future benefit to both librarians and their isolated clients.

The outsourcing agency's perspective

Introduction

Let me begin my part of the story by explaining what CAVAL is. CAVAL stands for Co-operative Action by Victorian Academic Libraries and was formed back in 1978. CAVAL means many different things depending on who you are. It may mean reciprocal borrowing and the COOLCAT union catalogue. It may mean the CARM Centre store, and it may mean Kinetica and Disaster management training, but hopefully it also means quality outsourced services.

This is where CAVAL Customer Services comes in. In 1996 I changed our section's name from Cataloguing Services, both to emphasise the fact that we do much more than cataloguing, and also to place the emphasis on the importance of the customer to us. That may sound trite but it's true. We really believe our competitive advantage is the quality of our work and our willingness to adapt to the customer's needs. How we did this in the case of New South Wales Agriculture is the topic of this paper.

A factual account of the project history

From 1996 we had been doing original cataloguing for NSW Agriculture. Then one day Marilyn asked if we were interested in adding acquisitions. Never ones to turn down a challenge we said, "of course". Coincidentally we were already contemplating adding this service to our repertoire, so from the beginning, NSW Agriculture and CAVAL Customer Services seem to have been on the same wave length.

I began recruiting an acquisitions expert, and, in order to prevent delays, ordered the first batch of books, hoping that I would have a project manager by the time they arrived. In fact the books arrived just before the project manager, Sue Henczel, so she was able to start straight away.

Initially Sue was employed on a casual part-time basis, as none of us had any idea whether the project would be a success. She quickly had everything under control, setting up a database, designing the invoicing process, developing relationships with suppliers, and setting up a credit card account so that we could order from suppliers such as Amazon.com. The cost structure was gradually developed, based on a flat rate, which was simpler for us all. Some details were modified as we went along, in an effort to streamline the process - the major one being the order form and the method of its transmission.

The first and subsequent, six months trials were a success, and the project is now ongoing, although with no definite contract period, with Sue working full-time, with an almost full-time assistant. She has also picked up a small number of other customers and we are looking to do more. Thanks to NSW Agriculture we now know what the likely problems are, have suppliers and systems set up and are ready to move on.

One way in which we are doing this, is by developing partnerships with our suppliers whereby we provide the cataloguing and end-processing part of the shelf-ready books equation, with the supplier handling the initial orders. A number of these strategic partnerships are under discussion, with two almost signed and sealed.

Problems and problem solving

The major technical problem for CAVAL has been the confirmation of NSW Agriculture's call numbers. Without access to the local catalogue or the shelves, we cannot tell with absolute certainty, what this call number should be. This is the only significant instance where the tyranny of distance has proved to be a problem. Although we may have the ordered item we may be delayed in supplying it by up to five days because of this. We would very much like to eliminate this delay in delivery, and continue to work with NSW Agriculture to achieve this, whilst still fitting in with their local requirements.

As with all of our projects, the major problem for CAVAL is the uncertainty we have about the duration of the project. We generally deal with uncertainty by having a workforce of casual employees, which theoretically can be adjusted as required. In practice, however, this is not only stressful to all of us, but is also uneconomic, as we have put major efforts into building up a team of extremely proficient staff, many of them with very particular language skills, which would be expensive to replace. In addition we need to expend many hours chasing new projects, customising them and setting them up. Our major focus at the moment therefore, is in attempting to build up a solid core of long-term relationships, with customers and suppliers. This will enable us to plan more effectively, retain our quality staff and ultimately reduce our costs and therefore prices, whilst still giving us the ability to deal with smaller projects.

Benefits of the NSW Agriculture Project for CAVAL

In all honesty I can say that NSW Agriculture is a very special customer of ours. I hope they will agree that it has been a mutually beneficial relationship - a true partnership in which we have worked together to solve the problems, big and small, which have arisen along the way. Whilst it implies incompetence to say that we made it up as we went along, in a way this is exactly what happened. We were both aware that this was something new. We knew what we wanted to achieve. We both wanted it to work and were willing to try a number of solutions. It, like many of our projects, has evolved, to suit the changing needs of the customer along the way. There is always something you don't think of when you start on something new.

What have we gained from the project?

• we have a superb new member of staff (now full-time and contract) to manage the project
• we have a completely new service, up and running and ready to expand
• we have been able to provide our current staff with new opportunities and skills
• we have developed good relationships with a number of suppliers, some of which we hope will lead to long-term partnerships.

We hope that the advantages to NSW Agriculture have been as great.

Conclusion

This conference is the first opportunity I have had to meet with some of the NSW Agriculture staff. I have met others at other conferences. Sue recently flew to Wagga Wagga to join the Regional Librarians for part of their annual planning session, but this was the first time that she had met any of them in person.

Nevertheless the tyranny of distance has not prevented us from developing a new service, liaising with our customers on a regular basis, and, I hope, building a real relationship. Although helped enormously by the ability of modern telecommunications to facilitate this process, when it comes down to it, all the latest telecommunications technology in the world will not enable you to develop a relationship based on mutual trust, without the personal commitment and qualities of the people involved. I really would stress that you will not achieve a successful outsourcing relationship without this communication.

The Regional librarians of NSW Agriculture are isolated from each other and their clients. We, in turn, are isolated from them, but we have overcome that isolation through patient experimentation, and true co-operation, finally crossing the straits to this island to meet in person and plan our future together.

Cited references

Haythornthwaite, Jo (1996) Outsourcing: opportunity or threat? Introduction to information management ed. By J. Brittain pp.87-100. Wagga Wagga, NSW: Centre for Information Studies.

Missingham, Roxanne (1994) Outsourcing and libraries - threat or promise? ASL: Australian Special Libraries 27 (4), pp131-139. December 1994

NSW Agriculture 1997-98 Annual Report. Orange, NSW

Renaud, Robert (1997) Learning to compete: competition, outsourcing, and academic libraries. The Journal of Academic Librarianship 23(2) pp.85-90. March 1997.

Sidhu, Rishpal Singh (1995) Outsourcing in library information services: trends and responses. Asia-Pacific Library Conference 28 May - 1 June 1995, Brisbane "Gateway to the future"...proceedings V.1 pp. 143-155. South Brisbane Qld: State Library of Queensland.

Other references

Burke, T. ; Genn-Bash, A. and Haines, B. (1988) Competition in theory and practice. London: Croom Helm. pp.87-120.

Libby, Katherine A. ; Caudle, Dana M. (1997) A Survey on the outsourcing of cataloging in academic libraries. College and Research Libraries 58(6) pp.550-560, November 1997.

McConchie, Brenda (1995) Insourcing - outsourcing - making the right decision. Synergy in Sydney 1995. Proceedings of the Sixth Asian pacific Specials, Health and Law Librarians' Conference...Sydney 27-30 August 1995. pp.193-196

MacLachlan, Liz (1995) How to manage more on less: the management challenge of the new world. New roles, new skills, new people. University of Hertfordshire Press.

Maxwell, Virginia (1997) Aloha outsourcing Australian Bookseller and Publisher 77(2). pp.62-63. August 1997.

Oster, Sharon M. (1990) Modern competitive analysis. New York: Oxford University Press. pp.37-60.

Outsourcing self sourcing!!! (1997) UNILINC Newsletter No.21 p.1, January 1997.

Authors