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Contract Cataloging

OCLC Contract Cataloguing services help solve your cataloguing challenges. We customize our solutions for your library, whether you need help with backlogs, ongoing cataloguing support or handling of special formats. We work quickly and with little to no impact on your daily operations or staff allocation.

If it's not in your online catalogue, it may as well be invisible…

There is truth to the adage, "If a user can't find it, the item isn't really there." The fact is, if items are missing from your online catalogue, they're all but invisible to your users. And that means a diminished return on the investments made in your collection. Our solutions help you control costs and take full advantage of materials you own.

Some top cataloguing challenges

Libraries everywhere face cataloguing challenges—do any of these scenarios sound familiar to you? If they do, we can help you with our customized solutions.

  1. Some of your cataloguing projects require language expertise that your staff just doesn't have.
  2. You've received several valuable gift collections but don't have the time to catalogue them.
  3. The backroom is filled with boxes of photographs, maps, audio/visual materials and other nonbook formats no one has time to catalogue.
  4. The demand for DVDs and CDs is draining your cataloguing resources.
  5. You have valuable collections collecting dust because no one has time to catalogue them.

Top cataloguers to meet those challenges

Most OCLC Contract Cataloguing staff are professional librarians, and many of them hold other, subject-related, degrees in addition to their MLS degree. We supplement our professional cataloguing staff with a team of highly trained paraprofessional cataloguers, all of whom received their training from professional librarians. The average length of employment is approximately 10 years, with a number of staff having been here for more than 20 years. Most of our professional staff worked in libraries before coming to OCLC.

We were pleased with both the speed and the quality with which the work was completed. Should we receive any future collections that cannot be processed in-house, OCLC would most certainly be our first choice for contract cataloguing service.”

—Madeleine Lefebvre, Former University Librarian, Patrick Power Library, Saint Mary’s University

Learn how to order or request a quote for Contract Cataloguing ››