Insourcing and Outsourcing of Library Technology

This article traces the movement of library technology from in-house systems created and maintained by library personnel to outsourced products bought from and largely controlled by vendors. As well as documenting these changes observations will be made concerning strategic advantages and disadvantages of this move. Focus will be limited to six areas of library technology: OPAC, Discovery Layer, MARC Records, Bindery, Acquisitions and ERM (Electronic Resources Management). Some may argue that these are all components of a central ILS that are created and available. This is true in some cases but not others. For example, Innovative Interfaces has always had an Acquisitions module whereas other ILSs have not. Many libraries still use a spreadsheet or other method to keep track of serials where others have migrated to an ERM. Individual use cases will be covered to demonstrate the benefits and shortcomings of each system.