What do acquisition activities really cost? A case study in Estonian university libraries
| Pages | 511-534 |
| Date | 10 August 2015 |
| Published date | 10 August 2015 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-12-2014-0137 |
| Author | Kate-Riin Kont |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,HR in libraries |
What do acquisition activities
really cost? A case study in
Estonian university libraries
Kate-Riin Kont
Acquisition Department, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to mainly find out how well is time-driven activity-based
costing (TDABC) suits for a university library setting in Estonia. For this purpose, all activities related
to acquisitions process were identified and recorded in detail, and the cost of all these activities related
to acquisition process in Estonian university libraries based on the example of the TDABC method
were anlyzed.
Design/methodology/approach –The data used in this paper is based on a review of relevant
literature to provide an overview of the concept of the different cost accounting methods suitable for
the measurement of the acquisition process. Through a case study, conducted among Estonian
university libraries, the TDABC approach was used to analyze the acquisition process in university
libraries. More specifically, the acquisition process studied concerned print format books, audiovisual
documents and sheet music, and covered acquisition processes such as receipt of orders, ordering
documents, communication with bookshop (if necessary), receiving documents and communication
with the customer.
Findings –On the basis of the current study it can be said the TDABC methodology seems to be one
of the best tools for understanding cost behavior and for refining a cost system for university libraries.
While analyzing the results, it appeared that the difference in time and cost for acquiring a document
can be remarkable and concerns both –acquiring foreign documents (documents from other countries)
and acquiring domestic documents, and between the university libraries chosen for the current study.
Originality/value –The subject of cost accounting as a performance measurement method is in
general an unexplored field in Estonian university libraries. Time guidelines for acquiring the
documents were, however, quite common in the 1980s in the USSR, including Estonia. Soviet-wide
regulatory documents were issued on all library work processes, but each library could still implement
their own rules. In the 1990s, the regulations were consigned to oblivion. Very few cost surveys
involving different library activities have been carried out in Estonia and none have been published.
Where such studies have been conducted, the results remain for internal use only.
Keywords University libraries, Time-driven activity-based costing, Cost analysis, Acquisition process
Paper type Case study
Introduction
According to C.A. Mandel: “We are all spending money, some of us know how much,
fewer of us know what for”(Mandel, 1988, p. 220).
Marilyn G. McSweeney defines acquisitions as follows: “The term acquisitions refers
to the function of obtaining all materials to be added to the library’s collection.”
(McSweeney, 1993, p. 31). Carol P. Diedrichs and Karen A. Schmidt say that “Acquisitions
is the process of acquiring library materials. Acquisitions includes all tasks related to
obtaining all library materials”(Diedrichs and Schmidt, 1999, p. 1). “Acquisitions”has
replaced order work since some materials are acquired without being ordered (e.g. thorugh
gifts, donations, exchange, legal deposit copy). According to Guy A. Marco, an acquisitions Library Management
Vol. 36 No. 6/7, 2015
pp. 511-534
©Emerald Group Publis hing Limited
0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/LM-12-2014-0137
Received 5 December 2014
Revised4May2015
Accepted 15 May 2015
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
The author would like to thank IATUL English Editing and Coaching Service, and especially
Karl Hughes from Technische Universität München, for editing the manuscript.
511
Estonian
university
libraries
department is found in most libraries, generally as a unit within technical processes,
collection management, collection development, but often, however, as an independent
department (Marco, 2012, pp. 2-6).
G.A. Marco states that the acquisitions procedure is labor intensive. He suggests
that probably one person-hour, at least, is required to deal with a single item (Marco,
2012, p. 3). The last two decades (1990s and 2000s) have been an exciting and
challenging time for acquisitions librarians. Acquisitions professionals have to respond
to change initiatives from above, as well as lead change efforts within their own
departments. Owing to budgetary constraints, processes have had to become more
efficient than in the past, and most acquisitions departments are required to do more
with less. Acquisitions professionals are expected to identify ways in which processes
can be omitting and streamlined and to implement those changes in their organization.
Change is often met with resistance because staff are concerned about their ability to be
effective in the new managerial culture or with the new process, and people fear an
increase in workload.
In the words of David C. Fowler and Janet Arcand, “Organizations of all types, all
around the world and throughout history, have frequently attempted to measure their
effectiveness in relation to their particular stated mission. One of the ways that these
organizations accomplish this is to examine variables generated by the actions or
outputs of their operations. Two of the most important variables that can be measured
by any organization are time, the amount of chronological units expended by
employees in accomplishing their tasks in service of the organization’s goals, and
cost, the amount of financial units expended in the same way”(Fowler and Arcand,
2003, p. 109).
According to Donald Coney, library management did not pay attention to such areas
of librarianship as the development of effective management of book collections,
cataloguing and the like, for a long time. This inattention was not important; the small
size of collections, staff, buildings and clientele made for simplicity of operation and did
not demand very sophisticated approaches (Coney, 1952, p. 83). By the end of the
nineteenth century, with the expansion and growth of libraries, they had become
service-providing institutions and their work became more routine. A need arose for
standardization of the different tasks in library work both to increase production, and
enhance the efficiency of human labor.
Early studies and reports of library cost accounting (Cutter, 1877; Whitney, 1885;
Bishop, 1905) indicate that one of the main reasons why cost accounting reached
libraries was the need for library managers to justify their costs to the public, as well as
to their parent organizations. However, this was seldom easy. According to Robert A.
Miller, “The cost of library operations and library services have been of continuing
interest and the subject of criticism within and outside the library profession”(Miller,
1937, p. 511). It has always been very difficult to justify their costs to their parent
organizations, whether a university (in the case of the university libraries) or a local
authority (in the case of the public libraries). Miller cites L.R. Wilson, who claimed in
1936 that, “Library administrators stress that existing standards do not reveal the
exact unit costs of different activities, that they cannot be used effectively in measuring
the efficiency of library operations. Furthermore, they say they do not enable the
taxpayer to know whether the services provided through the library are worth what
they cost”(Miller, 1936, pp. 256-257).
What then does cost accounting seek to accomplish in libraries? As Rider (1937)
argues: “A satisfactory system of cost accounting assists the management to reduce
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