It is interesting to see, in this course, how different libraries can be even within the same province. You would think that the way they operate would be somewhat more uniform. In my district we have a central library that takes care of cataloguing services. This means that neither I, as TL, nor my library assistant need to spend time cataloguing new resources. This frees up my time to teach and my library assistant's time to carry out other administrative jobs.
It looks like Follett and ULS offer excellent cataloguing services at reasonable prices. Follett offers this service at 69 cents per book including: electronic catalog record, bar code label with protector, spine label, and mylar choice. It is only 11 cents per book if you are just looking for the electronic catalog record. ULS offers a basic MARC record for 49 cents per book.
It's good to know about these services even though I do not need them at this point in my library. It would definitely be worthwhile to buy a MARC record for less than a dollar. From my experience, creating MARC records takes time, and I know that my MARC records were not as accurate as they should have been.
From the discussion forum, I have learned that many of my classmates take advantage of these services in their districts. I know that before we amalgamated our library systems into one, with Follett Destiny in 2006, the teacher-librarians in our district were responsible for cataloguing. They would buy MARC records from jobbers in order to cut down on the time they spent on administrative duties.
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