[WEB4LIB] Re: Coughing up Coffman / cost of ILL

[Jennifer Sweeney]

A couple of observations on cost:

> With some journal subscriptions costing upwards of $10,000 a year, or more,
> I'd rather have my library spend $30 for an occassional ILL (or
> CARLUnCover) request for an article from that journal than to spend $10K
> for a journal maybe two people will _need_ to use in a year.   Cheaper in
> the long run.  Also, that $30 per transaction cost includes the hourly rate
> or salary of the ILL person(s).

Staff costs make up 70 to 80 percent OR MORE of the ILL unit cost, which
varies from $5 (lending) to $30 (borrowing) at research and college
libraries. The ARL cost model Coffman refers to isn't perfect but it has
allowed us to compare costs over time, and the short answer is that
technology is not saving us money yet (nothing new there), and maybe never
will.  The reason is the highly labor-intensive nature of the work of
physically processing the items--the very tasks that don't take well to
automation.  You can achieve reductions several ways, but there is a point
beyond which you cannot go without degrading service quality (also not
new):

--Staff more carefully-- eliminate high cost (ie professional) supervisors
and staff, using more lower level library assistants to verify cites and
locate materials, and so on. 

--Invest in ILL management software.

--Redesign procedures to eliminate inefficient, duplicative, or
unnecessary tasks.

And even when you do these things, unit cost may not go down because other
factors are going up (equipment and borrowing charges for example).  

Other more long-term efforts which will improve service quality and cost
effectiveness should be explored as well, such as developing consortial
agreements with ILL partners for things like overnight courier services
and reciprocal no-fee arrangements.

Why focus on cost and performance?  I think we have to make the effort to
provide efficient, effective, user-responsive service in order to JUSTIFY
getting the money we will need to get truly global a la ELL.

Jen
> > 
* * * * * * * * * * * * * 
Jennifer Sweeney
Library analyst

Shields Library
100 North West Quad
University of California
Davis, CA 95616

Phone: 	(530) 752-5819
FAX:	(530) 752-6899
jksweeney at ucdavis.edu