Skip to page content

United States (English) Change
Contract Cataloging

OCLC Contract Cataloging services help solve your cataloging challenges. We customize our solutions for your library, whether you need help with backlogs, ongoing cataloging 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 catalog, 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 catalog, 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 cataloging challenges

Libraries everywhere face cataloging 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 cataloging 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 catalog them.
  3. The backroom is filled with boxes of photographs, maps, audio/visual materials and other nonbook formats no one has time to catalog.
  4. The demand for DVDs and CDs is draining your cataloging resources.
  5. You have valuable collections collecting dust because no one has time to catalog them.

Top catalogers to meet those challenges

Most OCLC Contract Cataloging staff are professional librarians, and many of them hold other, subject-related, degrees in addition to their MLS degree. We supplement our professional cataloging staff with a team of highly trained paraprofessional catalogers, 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.

OCLC was easy to work with for contract cataloging, and they were more than accommodating to our needs. They really helped us … especially with fast turnaround.”

—Deborah Thomas, Technical Services Librarian, University of Tennessee

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