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

[morganj at iupui.edu]

I believe Amazon.com is also still supposed to be losing money on each
transaction.  And they have deeper pockets.

Jim Morgan
morganj at iupui.edu



On Thu, 26 Aug 1999, Jennifer Sweeney wrote:

> 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
> 
> 
> 
> 
>