Technical Services Study

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prepared by

 

Angela Dodge, MLIS

 

Library Consultant

 

 

Final Report

 

June 2006

 

 

 

 

Technical Services Study

 

Introduction

 

            The Winnefox Library System (WLS) consists of the 30 public libraries in Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Marquette, Waushara, and Winnebago counties.  One subprogram of WLS is Winnefox Cooperative Technical Services (WCTS).  WCTS is a cooperative processing center with 19 member libraries from Green Lake, Marquette, and Waushara Counties (App., Tbl. 1).

            This study examines the procedures and cost-effectiveness of the selection, acquisition, cataloging and processing of library materials in the WCTS office. Three WLS libraries which are not WCTS members have been studied for comparison (App., Tbl. 2).

 

WCTS Revenues/Expenses

 

            WCTS has an annual budget of $330,000 (App., Tbl. 3 – Summary, Tbl. 4 – Revenue, Tbl. 5 – Expense).  WCTS is funded by the 3 participating counties, not directly by the libraries in those counties. The per capita funding dollar amount paid by each county is being equalized over several years.

 

 

            Member library revenues and rotating collections revenues are paid by the libraries.  Member library revenues are billed reimbursement for the books and processing supplies purchased by WCTS on behalf of the libraries. 

            Rotating collection revenues are membership dues for inclusion in the Audio Book, Large Print or DVD circuit.  The rotating collection circuits are open to all WLS members and the membership dues are paid by the participating libraries (App., Tbl. 6).  The DVD circuit was a WLS funded program for 2005 and is being transferred to the WCTS budget for 2006 with membership dues.  The DVD revenue listed in the financials is actually payment for 2006 membership.  At this time, the membership revenue received is used to purchase new materials for the circuit collections.  The additional personnel time to process the new materials and administer the rotations is not calculated into the membership dues.  For 2005, approx. 631 new titles were processed ($2,217) and added to the circuits and 1196 personnel hours ($20,474) were used to administer the rotations.  The WCTS libraries are paying these costs through their WCTS county contracts, while the WLS libraries are not paying any of these costs.  At the current collection development level, if these charges were funded by all participating libraries, this would add an additional $355 charge per WLS library per circuit.

 

            WCTS is operated with two full-time and two part-time employees (2.575 FTE).  Also included in the personnel expenses is payment for half of one Winnefox Automated Library Services (WALS) tech services position.  This funding allows open access WALS technical support to WCTS and all of its member libraries.  In addition to the catalog support, this position has helped in the creation of the new online selection list/ordering system. While WCTS pays a WALS membership fee of $9184.42, the member libraries receive a discount of $550 each ($10,450 total) on their individual WALS memberships.

            The periodicals expense is for the journals that are reviewed to create the selection lists.  The group purchase supplies expense is for supplies ordered by WCTS and offered to WLS libraries at the discounted bulk cost.  The unallocated reserve is funding the Collection Enhancement and WCTS Library Improvement Grants.

 

Library Expense Comparisons

 

            Carter Memorial Library (Omro), Spillman Public Library (North Fond du Lac), and Winneconne Public Library were selected as comparison libraries for this study.  Their expense financials have been matched to those used by WCTS (App., Tbl. 7).  All three libraries include processing supplies in their supplies–office expense.  An estimate of these expenses has been reallocated to catalog processing supplies.  Their review journal expenses have also been moved.

            Personnel costs for each library have been broken out by employee and function (App., Tbl. 8-11).  The hour per week time allocations are estimates based on personnel interviews.  These small libraries do a large amount of multitasking, covering the circulation desk and processing materials at the same time.  The number of hours spent on one function will also very greatly from day to day and week to week.  The other hours include administration, circulation, and special programming time.

               

Selection

 

            WCTS creates six selection lists per year for its member libraries.  Many sources are reviewed for inclusion on these lists.  Paid subscription sources include Booklist, Library Journal, Book Notes and Video Librarian.  Other free sources include Ingram Advance, Midwest Tape, Baker & Taylor, Criticas, Thorndike and other publisher catalogs, Billboard, and B&T CD Hotlist.

            Paid subscription sources reviewed by the comparison libraries include Booklist, Audiofile and Video Librarian (NFDL), and the WCTS Selection List (WINN).  Free sources include B&T Paperclips (NFDL), Bethany House, and Picture Window Books (OMRO).  The review of publisher catalogs and other sources varies greatly based on time availability.  The librarians will often attend CCBC and WLS selection workshops.  They also rely on patron requests and interests.

            As part of this study the August 2005 WCTS selection list was examined (App., Tbl. 12). 

 

 

            Of the 7898 titles that were reviewed for this selection list, 905 reviews of 842 titles were included in the list.  After surveying the reviews used for this list, the materials selected seemed very appropriate for smaller libraries.  WCTS libraries ordered 483 of the titles.  For the items that were not ordered by any WCTS library, the titles included 17 of 56 general adult (F), 14 of 51 mystery adult (F), 12 of 16 graphic novels (F), 12 of 55 general beginning chapter (F), 19 of 21 biography adult (NF), 13 of 21 history/current events adult (NF) , 13 of 17 travel adult (NF), 11 of 32 new releases adult DVD’s ,18 of 27 misc. adult DVD’s, and 21 of 41 Music CD’s.  One or more of the comparison libraries ordered 217 of the titles.  Winneconne purchases the Selection List from WCTS, greatly values it, and uses it as a primary source for their material selection.

 

 

            A large amount of personnel time is needed to read the reviews for the many new titles released.  For a smaller library, finding that time during the library’s open hours while multitasking can be difficult.  Both NFDL and Winn librarians do most of their review reading and selection after library hours at home on their own time.

            Winneconne currently purchases the selection list at a yearly cost of $350.  The actual cost of providing the selection list to the WCTS libraries is between $700 and $1000.  This estimate includes the subscription cost of the review journals, the personnel review time at approx. 50 reviews/hr. or 200 catalog summaries/hr., and the data entry of the selected titles into the online selection/ordering system.  Based on the fact that the number of titles entered for this list is fewer that other lists (App., Tbl. 13), the 08/05 selection list cost estimate is conservative.

 

 

            In addition to selection list titles, other materials can also be requested through the online selection/ordering system.  Whether they are older or new titles, they can be put into the system as add-ons.  The statistics generated by the selection/ordering system (App., Tbl. 13) include these add-ons in the titles entered and ordered.  This report is not a true representation of the actual selection list.  In addition, the libraries can order materials independently of WCTS.  Berlin Public Library orders most of their own materials.  For the August selection list, 15 titles were not included in the system generated report.

 

Ordering

 

            WCTS orders all materials requested by the individual member libraries through the online system.  By purchasing materials in volume with multiple copies of titles, WCTS receives larger discounts than the individual libraries would receive with single copy orders.   A survey was conducted of titles purchased by both WCTS and the comparison libraries.  Over the last six months of 2005, 38 titles were added to the WALS catalog by all of the libraries.  Out of those titles, 19 were from the August 2005 selection list and four could not be used for identical comparison (App., Tbl. 14)

            The majority of book titles are ordered either through Ingram or Baker & Taylor, while the Video/DVD titles are ordered through Midwest Tape or B&T.  Materials will also be ordered using other vendors and direct from the publisher.  The libraries ordering from Baker & Taylor are using the state contract and are not charged shipping.  Ingram charges shipping based on warehouse location, but also offers 1% 10/Net 30 terms, which WCTS takes advantage of.

 

 

WCTS also has a summary of their Ingram orders for 2005.

 

 

Cataloging/Processing

 

            In addition to the vendor pricing, the cataloging/processing time was examined for the 15 titles.  The vendor invoice date was compared to the item creation date within the WALS catalog system.  WCTS and Omro enter item records into the catalog at the beginning of the processing, while NFDL enters item records at the end.  WCTS usually has the processed items sent to the individual libraries within 2-5 days and Omro usually has items on the shelf within 1-4 days after creating the item record.

            The majority of the cataloging time is item record creation.  When a title is not in the WALS system, the bibliographic cataloging that is done by the libraries is brief record creation and not full original cataloging.

            The cataloging/processing estimate includes the cataloging time at approx. 120 item records/hr. or 45 bib records/hr. and the processing time at approx. 35 hardcovers/hr. or 30 paperbacks/hr..  These time estimates assume continuous work and are conservative.  The processing supplies are based on 75% hardcover and 25% paperback, additional supplies needed for some AV and other formats would add to this estimate.

 

 

 

            The supply costs vary greatly depending on the covering size and material used.  The laminate rolls are less expensive than the sheets that WCTS uses, but may not be as easy to apply to the books.  Because of the variation in book sizes and the estimation of books covered per roll, these costs are very general estimates.  Winneconne is the only library in the study that security strips their materials at approx. 14¢/book.  This average also does not include any needed AV cases.

 

 

            The cost per item comparison between WCTS and the other study libraries shows that WCTS is cost effective at less than $4.00 per book.  For the final cost totals, the amounts were taken from the personnel interview time allocations with the expense amounts from the Periodicals and Cataloging Processing Supplies line items added to Selection and Processing respectively.  The largest cost factor is personnel time and the wages and benefits given to the person responsible for each task.  Since North Fond du Lac and Winneconne have employees continuously multitasking, the personnel estimates given are probably higher than the actual time spent. 

 

 

Conclusion

 

            WCTS processed 16,098 items for its member libraries in 2005 (App., Tbl. 15).  This is 68% of the items added into the WALS system by these libraries.  The libraries are paying for this service through their WCTS contracts.  They are currently paying double for the personnel time spent processing the other 32% of the materials.  WCTS is a cost effective operation that frees up individual librarian time for other duties.

Appendix