Cataloging Outsourcing: Berkeley’s East Asian Library’s Experience March 24, 2007 Evelyn Kuo East Asian Library University of California Berkeley

Outlines  Berkeley’s outsourcing rationale and experience  Kinokuniya’s service for Japanese new acquisitions  Outsourcing services for a Chinese backlog project  Pilot projects for Chinese new acquisitions  Brief evaluations of vendors’ services  Berkeley’s future outsourcing plans

Headaches Why Outsourcing ?

Short-handed

Multi-tasking Monographs Continuing resources Rare books Special collections Multi-media and other non-print materials BacklogsGifts Authority work

Outsourcing Decisions  Is it a temporary or long-term project?  Focus on backlogs or new acquisitions?  What are the costs?  Who will manage the process?  Which vendor to use?

Outsourcing Decisions (2)  Which formats of materials should be outsourced?  Which language of materials to be outsourced?  What are tasks remained for staff including quality control?

Why Kinokuniya?  In 2002 Kinokuniya was marketing a new cataloging service.  Berkeley’s Japanese cataloging position was vacated at the time and it was difficult to recruit a qualified Japanese cataloger.  Kinokuniya has been Berkeley’s major vendor.

Technical Issues  Kinokuniya catalogs on OCLC using Berkeley’s login code and password, thus award Berkeley credit for creating new records.  Automated loading of OCLC records into Berkeley’s local system and use Berkeley’s order number as a matching element to overlay order records.  It’s a shelf-ready service that include assigning of unique call numbers, affixing bar-code and spine labels.  Began as a pilot project pending on periodical review.

Initial Review Process  It took Berkeley a whole year to fine-tune Kinokuniya’s cataloging service.  An experienced library assistant was assigned to review every Kinokuniya record for the first six months. For the second six months only word division and field 440, 490 were reviewed.  Mistakes or local specifications were communicated via . Sometimes phone calls were necessary.

Some Notes  The cataloging is done for new monographs only.  A vendor code “K” is added in field 590, subfield $a indicating the record is created by Kinokuniya.  Copy Cataloging: For matched titles, a printout is inserted in the book without any further action. Bar- code and spine label can be done for a small fee. The average matching rate is 16%. For matched titles, a printout is inserted in the book without any further action. Bar- code and spine label can be done for a small fee. The average matching rate is 16%.  Original Cataloging: 60% were from scratch and 40% were enhanced records from Waseda University’s records 60% were from scratch and 40% were enhanced records from Waseda University’s records

Kinikuniya’s Performance YearOriginalHitTotal % of Original Total purchase Percentage out-sourced 2002/031, ,62585%5,02132% 2003/041, ,41883%3,25944% 2004/051, ,55680%3,74942% 2005/061, ,72489%3,06056% 2006 Jun- Dec %2,05043% Total5,9351,0857,02084%17, %

Kinokuniy’s Value and Quality  Berkeley’s annual budget for Kinokuniya service is about $50,000 which is an equivalent of a low level cataloging librarian’s salary not counting benefits  About 50% of Berkeley’s purchase from Kinokuniya came shelf-ready.  Kinokuniya’s cataloging records are highly satisfactory.

Negative Sides  The drawback has been long turn around time for some months.  The downside of outsourcing is the authority work remained to be performed by library staff.

Kinokuniya’s Future Services  Berkeley considers Kinokuniya cataloging staff are well trained after the initial year and offers an excellent service at a reasonable cost.  Other libraries’ participations will boost the matching record rate.  Kinokuniya expressed interest in performing authority work if training is made available.

CJK Projects  In 2005, Berkeley’s East Asian Library was awarded close to a quarter million dollars for six CJK cataloging projects simultaneously for two years.  One of the projects was CJK backlog project for about 4,000 titles. Due to limited cataloging staff, outsourcing was the only viable option.

CJK Backlog Project  Berkeley spent four years in retro-conversion project for CJK titles. Most cataloging staff were involved in the recon projects. As the result, some CJK backlogs were built up.  CJKat Company offered to catalog CJK titles within an acceptable time frame. within an acceptable time frame.

Backlog Solution  A test run of 100 CJK monographs were sent to CJKat cataloging services.  Berkeley’s EAL staff evaluated CJKat’s returned cataloging records and found the best records were Chinese cataloging. A decision was made to retain CJKat service for Chinese monograph backlog only, but to hire temporary staff to catalog Japanese and Korean backlogs including serials recons.

CJKat’s Quality and Value CJKat’s Quality and Value  CJKat provided a shelf-ready service for close to 2,000 Chinese backlog titles.  All works were done by experienced catalogers in US.  The cost was very reasonable for a US company.

CJKat’s Value and Quality (2)  CJKat records were randomly reviewed. In general EAL was satisfied with CJKat’s Chinese cataloging.  Books were shipped to CJKat with insurance. At the end of the project, all books were returned safely.  The backlog project was completed within 10 months.  CJKat contact Mr. Edwin Yu Mr. Edwin Yu

Catalog Service for Chinese new Acquisitions Catalog Service for Chinese new Acquisitions  The impetus for Berkley to consider outsourcing cataloging for Chinese new acquisitions was during the void when a Chinese cataloging librarian position was vacated in It usually takes about a year or even longer to recruit a new staff.  The immediate relief would be to outsource new acquisitions.

Acquisitions and Vendors Berkeley acquires Chinese materials from a dozen vendors in China. Most are concentrated in Beijing and Shanghai in addition to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Many vendors offer cataloging and processing services for a fee.

Pilot Project  Funding was made available to implement a pilot project for outsourcing cataloging for Chinese new acquisitions.  The initial plan was to select one vendor in Beijing and one vendor in Shanghai as outsourcing partners for cataloging new orders.

Pilot Project (2)  For business reason, Beijing vendors refused to send Berkeley’s orders to assigned vendor as requested. Shanghai vendors were willing to cooperate in this regard.  An alternative plan was in placed to use two vendors in Beijing and to engage the Shanghai Library to take care of Shanghai orders.

Pilot Vendors  In Beijing 1. China National Publishing Industry Trading 1. China National Publishing Industry Trading Corporation (CNPITC) 中国出版对外贸易 总公司 Corporation (CNPITC) 中国出版对外贸易 总公司 2. China International Book Trading Corporation 2. China International Book Trading Corporation (CIBTC) 中国国际图书贸易公司 (CIBTC) 中国国际图书贸易公司  In Shanghai 3. The Shanghai Library. 3. The Shanghai Library.  It’s a pilot project, so no contract or deep negotiation was done.

CNPITC Cataloging Services  CNPITC was selected because it is the major vendor for Berkeley’s Chinese materials.  LC is using CNPITC’s acquisition services.  CNPITC contact: Ms. Zhang Ying Ms. Zhang Ying

Quality and Value of CNPITC  Cataloging records were promptly delivered with each new order. Five orders were received so far.  In general, cataloging quality is good except names and subjects are not always thoroughly checked. As the result, vendor was asked to use K for Encoding level that will be changed after a review is done.  The cost is acceptable.

CIBTC Cataloging Services  The reason for selecting CIBTC to do a pilot project is because CIBTC’s records are reviewed by a US cataloging librarian.  CIBTC’s has a dozen catalogers who were trained by the National Library of China and a US librarian.  Original records were created by CIBTC staff in Beijing then reviewed by staff of National Library of China. A US librarian does a final check for call numbers, author and subject headings.

CIBTC’s Value and Quality  Cataloging records are very good. Names and subjects are thoroughly checked. Two to three subject headings are provided. thoroughly checked. Two to three subject headings are provided.  Duplicated records were created due to multi-step checking and a lack of final dup check.  The cost is higher.  Contact Ms. Wong Tong Ms. Wong Tong

The Shanghai Library’s Outsourcing Services  Doing cataloging for Singapore National Library from July,  Doing cataloging for the National Library of Australia from Aug.,  Doing cataloging for Berkeley via OCLC from summer 2006.

Shanghai’s Project  In addition to catalog vendor’s new books, Shanghai Library also offered to catalog in- house items.  For a test run, a list of 200 titles with ISBN, order number and Chinese titles was sent to the Shanghai Library via original records were created form the list.  A total of 600 titles were cataloged by the Shanghai Library so far including three new orders from Shanghai vendors.

Shanghai Library’s Quality and Value  Cataloging quality is very satisfactory.  The cost is the lowest.  The only drawback is the turn around time is not very consistent.  Willing to catalog other vendors’ books.  Shanghai Library’s contact Mr. Luen Ji Mr. Luen Ji

Future Vendor Records  Has cataloging outsourcing been a viable option for CJK materials? It has been a positive experience for Berkeley. It has been a positive experience for Berkeley.  What are the future prospects for vendor’s records and is it possible to have cataloging records shipped with new books at an affordable cost? The answer is yes but we need LC’s leadership in guiding this national project by providing training for vendors in China. Once quality records are available on OCLC, libraries can update holding themselves or pay a fee for OCLC to add holdings. The answer is yes but we need LC’s leadership in guiding this national project by providing training for vendors in China. Once quality records are available on OCLC, libraries can update holding themselves or pay a fee for OCLC to add holdings.

LC’s Leadership LC’s support is important in making this happens. Please send your support messages to Beatrice Ohta LC’s support is important in making this happens. Please send your support messages to Beatrice Ohta at at

Under Control with Outsourcing

Thank you!