PromptCat issues for acquisitions: Quality review, cost analysis and workflow implications

Library Acquisitions: Practice and Theory

Volumn 20, Issue 1, 1996, Pages 9-21

  Rider, Mary M ^a   Hamilton, Marsha ^a  

^a OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Acquisitions; Cataloging; OCLC; PromptCat; Vendors

Indexed keywords

EID: 11544274802     PISSN: 03646408     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/0364-6408(95)00076-3     Document Type: Article

References (15)

1. Information on PromptCat was obtained from OCLC-supplied promotional literature and by OCLC project coordinators during the OSUL PromptCat test. At the time of writing, some libraries and vendors have postponed testing PromptCat due to programming needed for local systems.
2. Granskog, Kay. "PromptCat Testing at Michigan State University," Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory, 18 (1994), 419-420.
3. Granskog, Kay. ," Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory, Ibid, p. 420.
4. Granskog, Kay. ," Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory, Ibid, p. 423.
5. Granskog, Kay. ," Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory, Ibid, p. 425.
6. The OSUL test focused on comparing PromptCat record selection and match rates to the Libraries' current search methods. The test was performed using paper reports and was not done by adding records to a "live" system. Further programming will be required before PromptCat can be integrated into the Libraries' INNOPAC system.
7. These figures are for the PromptCat service through OHIONET. Charges for libraries within other local networks and consortia may vary.
8. In FY 1994, OSU received 18,380 Baker & Taylor approval titles.
9. Information provided by OSU Libraries Personnel office.
10. Salary and benefits based on average figures provided by the OSU Libraries Personnel and Business Offices.
11. See Dilys E. Morris, "Staff Time and Costs of Cataloging," Library Resources & Technical Services, 36 (January 1992), 79-91, for a detailed, longitudinal study of cataloging costs conducted at Iowa State University Library in 1987-90. ISUL also copy cataloged an average of 3 titles/hour and factored in staff overhead and other cataloging activities for an average per title cost of $8.18 per record over a 3-year period. It was also noted that these per title costs increased 25% over the 3-year period of the study; from $7.74 in 87/88; to $8.24 in 88/89; to $9.02 in 89/90.
12. All savings are estimates since "monograph checkin" was not tested during the OSUL PromptCat test. Additional costs for system programming to enable local implementation of PromptCat are also not covered in this article and would vary depending on the local online system and library needs.
13. This is a hypothetical workflow because the OSUL system currently does not have the capability to create bibliographic, order and item records simultaneously.
14. Horney, K. L. "Fifteen Years of Automation: Evolution of Technical Services Staffing," Library Resources & Technical Services, 31 (Jan.-Mar. 1987), 69-76.
15. For more detailed information on the OSUL PromptCat test, see manuscript by Mary M. Rider, "PromptCat: A Projected Service for Automatic Cataloging - Results of a Study at The Ohio State University Libraries," which is forthcoming in Cataloging & Classification Quarterly.