-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Outsourcing the Catologing of Cartographic Materials
Date: Thu, 05 Jul 2012 14:14:36 -0300
From: jcboxall <[log in to unmask]>
To: Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship <[log in to unmask]>
CC: Angie Cope, American Geographical Society Library, UW Milwaukee
<[log in to unmask]>
Julie et al,
We have been doing a small amount of this for a Hist-GIS effort just
getting off the ground.
The person working on this (interestingly, a UW-Madison grad :-) also
has an MLIS and is doing a
max of three maps a day - that is a max! Most often, there are errors to
correct from previous descriptions.
And we also have to consider that to really get at the description means
you need to know something about the work in front of you. SO I would
say you might get two done each day - if we are talking maps older than me.
That rule of thumb for here is based upon experience and the project
parameters. It may vary of course, but always good to err on the side of
caution than to raise expectations of a backlog being cleared in a week
:-). Recall, this is a project and not a full, normal process within
the collection.
regards
james
On 7/5/2012 2:00 PM, Angie Cope, American Geographical Society Library,
UW Milwaukee wrote:
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: Outsourcing the Catologing of Cartographic Materials
> Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2012 09:44:34 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Julie Sweetkind-Singer <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Julie Sweetkind-Singer <[log in to unmask]>
> To: Air Photo Maps, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship
> <[log in to unmask]>
>
>
>
> April and Paige,
>
> Can you two estimate how long (in terms of minutes) you think it would
> take to catalog an antiquarian map? I'm being asked to give metrics on
> this as we try to work through our backlong. How much can one person be
> expected to do in an hour, a day, etc?
>
> Thanks for your expertise.
>
> Julie
>
> ***
> Julie Sweetkind-Singer
> Assistant Director of Geospatial, Cartographic and Scientific Data &
> Services
> Head Librarian, Branner Earth Sciences Library & Map Collections
> Stanford University
> 397 Panama Mall; MC 2211
> Stanford, CA 94305
> (650)725-1102
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From: *"Angie Cope, American Geographical Society Library, UW
> Milwaukee" <[log in to unmask]>
> *To: *[log in to unmask]
> *Sent: *Thursday, July 5, 2012 5:54:21 AM
> *Subject: *Re: Outsourcing the Catologing of Cartographic Materials
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: Outsourcing the Catologing of Cartographic Materials
> Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2012 16:51:39 +0100 (BST)
> From: A CARLUCCI <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: A CARLUCCI <[log in to unmask]>
> To: Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship
> <[log in to unmask]>
>
>
>
> Hi Greg
>
> Following on from Paige's comments, I'm happy to offer a few thoughts.
>
> I've had the opportunity to see close up some projects which weren't
> exactly outsourcing as you're thinking, but were similar enough. One was
> a retroconversion of a large printed catalog, which was done by a
> contractor, and the other a large donation of maps which came with
> cataloging data supplied by the donor. In both cases, looking at it as a
> manager, you would have to wonder if the outsourcing had been worth the
> trouble, given the effort required by in-house staff to clean up the
> data later.Paige is right, in these sorts of situations you lose control
> of the details, and there's nothing more important in cataloging than
> details. Paige was lucky to be able to develop a good rapport with the
> external cataloger on his project; it doesn't always work that way.
>
> Another consideration is where the work will be done. Assuming that
> outsourcing means outside of your library, how will the maps get to
> where they're being cataloged? Pardon this terrible pun, but maps don't
> travel as well as many other types of library materials, at least not if
> the maps are large and flat. Sending copies, whether paper or digital,
> completely messes up your physical description and scale. Sending the
> maps themselves is a security and conservation risk.
>
> But it's not all doom and gloom. The answer is fairly simple and
> something I've been involved with many times in my career, in all sorts
> of library settings. Plan it as an onsite limited term project and hire
> a map cataloger. Training and help is available. It's not easy to
> estimate how much work there will be, but then you would still have to
> estimate it for an outsource. It gives you a lot more control over
> quality, keeps the materials safely at home, and you're giving someone a
> job as well. I'm sure you can get help with the details from the map
> library community; all in all, we're a pretty nice bunch!
>
> Good luck!
>
> Regards
>
> April
>
> April Carlucci
> The Itinerant Map Catalog(u)er and Consulting Map Librarian
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* "Angie Cope, American Geographical Society Library, UW
> Milwaukee" <[log in to unmask]>
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Sent:* Monday, 2 July 2012, 13:50
> *Subject:* Re: Outsourcing the Catologing of Cartographic Materials
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: Outsourcing the Catologing of Cartographic Materials
> Date: Sun, 1 Jul 2012 14:09:58 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Paige G Andrew <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
> To: Air Photo Maps, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship
> <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
>
>
> Hi Greg,
>
> Sorry for the delay in replying, I am STILL not caught up on
> conference-related things! I sure hope others are. So, here it is on the
> weekend and I'm trying to clear up several things.
>
> Outsourcing the cataloging of cartographic materials -- there really is
> only one viable option, and its an expensive one that doesn't net you
> the best of records ("useable", "average" are a couple of words that
> come to mind from my experience), and that is OCLC's retrocon service.
> Here at Penn State in the late 1990s/early 2000s I coordinated a project
> to get all of our city maps from Pennsylvania and the surrounding six
> states cataloged by outsourcing them to OCLC (the project was of course
> run by our Cataloging and Metadata Services Department's head and
> assistant head, they took care of things like the budget stuff,
> higher-level communication between us and OCLC initially, communication
> up the organization from within, etc.). I would have to dig to see if I
> even have any dollar figures available, keeping in mind that its been
> about ten years ago, whether for the entire project or per-record, or
> other. My post outsourcing thoughts gather around a couple of things;
> the over!
> all quality of the work done at the bib. record level on their end,
> and for the project as a whole.
>
> Starting with the bib. records, and you know I am a pretty picky and
> high-detailed maps cataloger, I was not too happy with the outcomes. I
> did have a good line of communication with the person doing the
> cataloging on OCLC's end for our project, and he was very amenable to
> either my suggestions for changes or my outright request in specific
> cases. But, I felt like some things were often overlooked when they
> should not have been, though I would say that outright errors were
> minimal. Mostly it was information *lacking* that made me have to step
> in and do additional work at times. That said, I do know that the
> catalogers at OCLC don't necessarily specialize in specific formats of
> materials (unless that has changed in the meantime) and thus I think the
> lack of experience with map cataloging showed in the results.
>
> As for the overall experience with OCLC, I think it was positive. As
> noted above I had a very good line of communication with the fellow
> cataloger. In addition the "red tape" side of things, filling out forms,
> tweaking profiles to fit our needs, and so forth, was positive, the
> folks at OCLC were timely in their replies and provided good
> explanations when needed.
>
> However, whenever you have another person or organization doing the work
> for you, in instantly lose control over the ability to make changes in a
> timely manner. Changes to workflow (e.g., let's say you decided you
> wanted to only have your Tennessee city maps cataloged, and then a
> couple of months later you decide to also add doing all the Tennessee
> maps, this kind of change takes time to propose, work around from both
> ends, etc., until implementation), changing the specifics you want
> included or not included at the record level, and even the reality that
> at a moment's notice the budget for the project might be cut suddenly --
> all of these mean it takes more time to do because you aren't able to
> sit down with a supervisor and maybe an administrator quickly and make
> decisions and then begin implementing them. That can be frustrating at a
> minimum, and more costly at a maximum, because as we all know time is
> money.
>
> I would hedge my bet and say that if one has a relatively small and
> focused project in mind, with the budget to see it completely through,
> then perhaps outsourcing is a viable alternative. But, if the idea is to
> outsource a major part of a collection to get the cataloging done, or
> the entire collection (or remainder thereof), and you have the capable
> cataloger(s) to do the work, you will end up with a better result, for
> less money, in the long run.
>
> Are there other persons or companies that take on outsourcing
> cartographic materials cataloging? Well, I know in the 1990s there was a
> person I believe in Virginia that started such a company but a few years
> later folded. Outside of OCLC I don't know of any others, though there
> may be one or more, and I trust others on this list can fill in the
> blanks for me.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Your friendly, neighborhood maps cataloger,
>
> Paige
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Angie Cope, American Geographical Society Library, UW Milwaukee"
> <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
> To: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, June 29, 2012 11:05:09 AM
> Subject: Outsourcing the Catologing of Cartographic Materials
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Outsourcing the Catologing of Cartographic Materials
> Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2012 15:01:00 +0000
> From: March, Greg <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
> To: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
>
>
>
> Hello,
>
> Would anyone be willing to offer any opinions, advice, personal
> experiences related to outsourcing the cataloging of cartographic
> materials? Any input you can offer would be very much appreciated.
>
> Thank you!
>
> -Greg
>
> Gregory H. March
>
> Associate Professor
>
> Map/GIS Librarian and
>
> Head of Map Services
>
> University of Tennessee
>
> G21A Hodges Library
>
> Knoxville, TN 37996
>
> 865-974-3878 (phone)
>
> 865-974-3925 (fax)
>
>
--
James Boxall FRCGS, FRGS
Director, GISciences Centre
1459 Oxford Street
Dalhousie University
Halifax, N.S. B3H 4R2
[log in to unmask]
t: @jamesgis
902.494.6126 (o)
s:james.boxall5
Adjunct Professor and Lecturer
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