A Survey of Computer Search Service Costs in the Academic Health Sciences Library* BY SHERRILYNNE SHIRLEY, Associate Director Norris Medical Library University of Southern California Los Angeles, California ABSTRACT The Norris Medical Library, University of Southern California, has recently completed an extensive survey of costs involved in the provision of computer search services beyond vendor charges for connect time and printing. In this survey costs for such items as terminal depreciation, repair contract, personnel time, and supplies are analyzed. Implications of this cost survey are discussed in relation to planning and price setting for computer search services.
COMPUTERIZED
search services and the expenses required to provide them are a recent development. Whereas it was not necessary for the Norris Medical Library, University of Southern California, to allocate funds for this area in the mid-1960s, by 1973 the total direct expenses at Norris were approximately $3,500 for on-line services. By 1976 annual expenses for these services totaled approximately $15,000. If we were to continue to incur expenses at this rate by 1985 they would represent 90% of our total 1977 budget. For this reason a decision was made to look at mechanisms for recovering some of the costs of providing computer search services. A survey of the literature reveals that much has been written from the production point of view concerning the costs of information services [1,2]. A number of reports have surveyed search services costs in the library from the comparative point of view, either by contrasting search costs across data bases and vendors [3,4] or by analyzing the cost of manual bibliographies versus the cost of computer retrieval of the same references [5,6]. Recently, several papers have appeared on the subject of fee versus free computer search services [7,8]. Not much, however, has been written concerning the practical side of setting prices for computer search services based upon an *Based on a paper presented June 14, 1977, at the Seventy-seventh Annual Meeting of the Medical Library Association, Seattle, Washington.
390
analysis of the costs of providing these services within the library. Development of on-line data bases proceeded rapidly during the late 1960s and early 1970s, and many libraries (especially medical libraries) were forced to make rather hasty decisions to provide access to these data bases. These decisions were made without the benefit of hard data for projecting expenditures. Once the purchase or rental of equipment was made and the searchers trained, it became apparent that most libraries would not be able to indefinitely subsidize the costs of providing free search services. A number of libraries began to charge for searches based upon the "out-ofpocket" expenditure tied to each individual search. These "out-of-pocket" expenses are: (1) computer connect time, (2) direct communication (Telenet and Tymshare), and (3) off-line prints. Many libraries have not gone beyond this basic direct-cost recovery schedule. In 1974 we began to realize that recovery of these direct costs represented only a small part of the total cost commitment of the library in providing search services. Before attempting a revision of our existing price schedule, which at that time was based on recovering only "out-of-pocket" expenses, it was determined that a survey should be made of all of the expenses related to provision of on-line search services. The resulting list of expenses would, of course, vary from library to library in both size and type of expenditure, but the guidelines would probably be relevant to large search service operations where seventy-five or more searches are processed each month. Costs for providing any service or product can be divided into three categories: production cost, support cost, and overhead. A production cost is one that can be tied to a particular production unit-in this case, a bibliographic search. Support costs include all other expenses of an indirect type involved in producing the search. Overhead costs are incurred whether or not searches are being processed. Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 66(4) October 1978
COMPUTER SEARCH SERVICE COSTS
practice time on-line for new searchers should also be considered. It has been estimated that ten hours per searcher would be a minimum time allowance for providing an acceptable level of expertise on a new system (not data base) once the classroom instruction has been completed [9]. Recurring Costs Recurring costs are by far the largest and most complex category of indirect costs to consider. Terminal rental is an obvious recurring cost, but not so obvious is the recurring cost of terminal replacement should the terminal be owned rather than rented. One method for adjusting the cost of replacing a terminal is to depreciate it on an annual basis, so that at the end of a period of time (usually five years) enough money has been set aside to replace the terminal if necessary. Maintenance costs are also recurring, and as terminal owners, it has been our experience that a terminal maintenance contract is definitely a wise investment, judging from the very high cost of terminal parts and repair time. The cost of supplies will, of course, vary from situation to situation; however, it should be possible to estimate these costs based upon past experience in your library. The cost of terminal paper has been roughly estimated at eight feet per search [10] for searches of NLM data bases. Detailed record keeping on a search-by-search basis can be of great assistance in estimating supply costs. Depending upon the volume of searches SUPPORT COSTS and the detail in which the log books are kept, the cost of producing forms for record keeping can be Start-up Costs a factor. Search manuals, thesauri, and other vocabulary Support costs are divided into two categories: start-up costs and recurring costs. Start-up costs aids are extremely important in the formulation of are incurred only once, and that is when the in- effective searches. Not only is the precision of the stallation of the equipment is completed. search improved, but also the time spent on-line Electrical outlet and telephone installation fall can be greatly reduced. For these reasons, despite into this category. With regard to the telephone the very high cost of some search aids, they are connection, it has been our experience that there definitely worth the expense and can save money should be a direct outside line, as terminals con- in the long run. At Norris it is felt that the expense nected by telephone through an institutional of these search aids is a legitimate one to be phone system have a very high rate of broken con- recovered in the price of on-line searches. Free search service demonstrations can be a nections and interference on-line. The extra cost of installing an outside line has definitely been very effective means of introducing new, and for justified at our institution in terms of savings in that matter not so new, data bases. Many searcher time and frustration. potential search requesters are very reluctant to In addition to the costs of electrical installations invest in a search that costs $1.00 per minute; and telephone outlets, there is the cost of training however, a free demonstration can be arranged new searchers-which can be very high, depend- for several people with similar interests to ing upon travel and per diem costs, amount of staff demonstrate the effectiveness of the service and time lost while trainees are away from the job, and reduce the reluctance on the part of the requester. the cost of the class itself. The cost of providing Whether or not the cost of demonstrations should PRODUCTION COSTS Production costs consist of computer connect time (including royalty charges, if any), communication costs, off-line print charges, and personnel time. As mentioned earlier, the first three costs are those most often recovered by libraries, because of the ease with which they can be tied to a given search. Many libraries have not yet begun to recover personnel costs, although these costs are the largest single category of costs involved in providing computer search services. Personnel costs can be calculated easily on a per search basis or can be estimated accurately in the case of largevolume searches of a particular data base. For example, MEDLINE statistics at Norris over the past few years indicate an average on-line time of fifteen minutes per search, while time spent on the search interview and formulation has averaged seventeen minutes per search. When estimating personnel costs, it is necessary to include, in addition to actual salary, a factor for fringe benefits. Costs included in fringe benefits are: vacation, holiday and sick leave pay, payroll taxes, Workman's Compensation, insurance, and where applicable such items as pension plans, hospitalization, life insurance, and so on. Depending upon the organization's policies, these costs vary from 15% to 25% of the direct payroll. Accounting departments can usually provide the fringe benefit factor appropriate to your institution.
Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 66(4) October 1978
391
SHERRILYNNE SHIRLEY
be recovered by including a cost factor for all searches is certainly debatable. Personnel costs can be broken down according to those tied to production of a particular search (direct, or production, costs) and all other personnel costs. Direct personnel costs have already been discussed. Personnel costs of a support nature include expenses for continuing education and review to keep searchers current on new system capabilities and to permit them to brush up on search strategy. These costs may involve travel, per diem, and in some cases fees for class enrollment. Time spent teaching users about search services should be taken into consideration if there are to be search demonstrations. The cost of training new searchers as a result of staff turnover must also be considered. It is not always possible to replace a searcher with another trained searcher. Factors to be considered when estimating the costs of clerical support staff include such activities as record keeping (logging searches in and out), billing, mailing, receptionist duties, compiling of statistics, preparing forms, and typing informational material concerning search services. A recent survey at Norris indicated that an average of fifteen minutes per search is spent on clerical activities. This time is broken down as follows: five miflUites for logbook entries, six minutes for processing time (includes cover letter and notification of requester), and four minutes for search service upkeep (includes statistics, filing, bookkeeping). A number of "housekeeping" factors can result in increased computer search costs, and therefore they should be mentioned. Faulty formulation of searches can result in a necessity for reruns, as can printouts lost in the mail. Searches in both of these categories are rerun by Norris at no cost to the individual requester. On-line search service news files need to be consulted on a daily basis, and it may be desirable to use on-line services for answering certain reference questions or for interlibrary loan verification. Computer downtime, resulting in a complete rerun of a search, and abnormally long computer response time, can contribute to increased costs, although it may not be possible to place a dollar figure on these usually random occurrences. The costs of telephone calls to data base vendors concerning on-line search problems and to data base suppliers concerning vocabulary and strategy can add up. No matter where you are located geographically, questions will still come up that can only be resolved by a long distance 392
call. Fortunately, at least two data base vendors do now offer toll-free trouble "hot lines," a service that can cut these costs considerably. If searches are run for off-campus or out-of-area requesters, there can also be toll telephone charges connected with negotiating a search request or following up on payment. A final telephone cost consists of the monthly charge for telephone service, as well as message unit charges should the Telenet or Tymshare connection be outside the local area. It is necessary, unfortunately, to consider the problem of uncollectible debts. There are several ways of reducing this loss, which was for a time at Norris accounting for as much as 34% of our total search service costs. The most effective solution is "payment in advance" or, alternatively, a sizeabie advance deposit. Finally, it has been found that on-line search services at many institutions have a significant effect on other library services, particularly interlibrary loans. In one instance interlibrary loan requests increased 67% in one year, With many of those requests directly traceable to specific searches [11]. The effect of search services on other library operations cannot be measured in dollars and cents but should be considered. OVERHEAD
Overhead costs are those costs incurred by the library whether or not searches are being run. These costs are also extremely difficult to estimate. The first of these expenses is administrative cost, which covers planning and management of the search service operation. A second expense is facilities cost, that is, the expense of providing heat, light, and power, prorated according to the space devoted to computer search service operations. Certainly, in most library situations it would be neither possible nor desirable to attempt to recover all of the costs listed here. However, it is important that the search service administrators are aware of the large variety of factors that affect the cost of providing search services, and this article should provide a fairly comprehensive checklist of items to be considered. PRICE SETTING
Once a list of search service costs has been identified, it is necessary to attach an actual dollar estimate to the factors that are to be included in the cost recovery formula. If the cost analysis involves a search service that has been in operation for a period of time, many of the costs can be estiBull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 66(4) October 1978
=
COMPUTER SEARCH SERVICE COSTS NORRIS MEDICAL LIBRARY
DAILY ON-LINE SEARCHING LOG
LOS ANGELES COUNTY/USC MEDICAL CENTER LIBRARIES
DATE:
TIME TIME TOAL'PATIENT COMPUrER FILE OR SEARCH ON OFF TIME CARE (P) OR VENDOR DATA BASE ANALYST
=
REQUESr NO.
SEARCH REQUESTER OR READY REF.
PROBLEW
FAILURE"
_
_
FIG. 1.-Daily On-Line Searching Log. *Problem: slow loss of search.
mated based upon past experience. As mentioned earlier, it is very important to keep accurate, detailed records on a search-by-search basis. Our forms provided very complete data, which were extremely useful in our cost survey (Fig. 1 and 2). The Daily On-Line Searching Log is situated next to the terminal, and all searches run are logged here. This form is used principally as a tool for analyzing vendor invoices but has also provided other valuable data. For example, vendor downtime, slow response time, or communication problems can be pinpointed as to day and time, number of searches lost, and so on, so that reports of problems to the vendor can be specific. The Prepaid Search Requests Received Log provides informatidfl concerning the status of i given search from the time of receipt to the tini!
response
time, etc. **Failure: System failure resulted in
the results are mailed or handed to the requester. A form of this type is critical in situations where several searchers at any given time have a number of searches in process. Several other forms are used in our search record keeping; however, these two are most representative. If a new center is being established costs will have to be approximated or borrowed from surveys such as ours until sufficient data has been gathered and a price structure based upon actual experience can be derived. The next step is to determine which costs will be passed on to the search requester and which will be absorbed by the 1ibrary. At this time it is necessary to consider the various categories of users that your library serves and whether it is desirable to establish several price structures. You
PREPAID SEARCH REQUESTS RECEIVED LOG
NORRIS MEDICAL LIBRARY MONTH/YEAR
Date Date Date UTh_ al Recd Act C REQUESTER Ti 2
Status
3I
FIG.
Pd
SEARCH TITLE
5
4
2.-Prepaid
Corn- Other Form Term puter Reqs TimXTime
Search
6
7
8
Edit
Total Medline Backfile's
Time
Time
Refs
Refs
9
10
Requests Received Log.
Columns
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Date activated (date search payment received) Turn-around time Status (borrower code) Paid (amount and form of payment, e.g., check) Vendor
Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 66(4) October 1978
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Other data base requests Formulation time Terminal connect time No. of references retrieved on-line and off-line No. of references retrieved from backfiles
393
SHERRILYNNE SHIRLEY
may wish to provide search services to students based solely upon communication costs and offline prints, while recovering from business and industrial users personnel costs as well as many of the indirect costs. One of the possible price mechanisms is a unit charge per search. A unit charge is desirable for large-volume data bases so that prepayment can be required, thus avoiding the problems of invoicing and uncollectible debts. The basic approach to calculating a unit cost for a high-volume search service is illustrated in Appendix 1. It is assumed that all requesters will be charged the same amount for a MEDLINE search of the current file and that the costs to be recovered are: on-line connect time, off-line prints, search aids, terminal paper, terminal maintenance, and free MEDLINE demonstrations. (For the purposes of this illustration, assume that the terminal is used only for MEDLINE searching. Should the terminal be used for other purposes as well, it would be necessary to determine the percentage of usage for MEDLINE searching and to prorate the terminal costs accordingly.) All other costs, including personnel costs, are to be absorbed by the library. The unit charge approach does not, however, work well on the more expensive data bases where searches are run infrequently and vary greatly in length of time on-line from search to search and cost per minute from data base to data base. Here the charges can be based on actual on-line connect charges and off-line print charges for each search, with a service charge added to cover other production and support costs. The service charge is derived by totaling all of the costs to be recovered and prorating the charge in one of two ways. It can be added to the vendor's hourly charge, thus tying the cost assessment to the length of search connect time; the assumption here is that the longer the search the greater the indirect costs connected with it. Or the service charge can be assessed on a per search basis. If a variable service charge is desirable, one possibility is to assess "in-house" users for selected indirect costs, while charging outside users for personnel costs as well as for indirect costs. The variations are many. The form the service charge takes, whether tied to on-line costs or to a strict unit basis, will depend upon the library's user population and, possibly, the availability of clerical assistance. The more complex the fee schedule, the more time required to process searches, prepare invoices, and maintain other records. Libraries with limited 394
clerical assistance will undoubtedly want to keep their search procedures as simple as possible. There has been no attempt made here to discuss the costs involved in providing SDI services. We are currently studying this area. One published study of SDI service costs over a five-year period concludes that the intellectual effort in formulating a query into a search profile, on maintaining user system interaction in the form of personal contacts, feedback and marketing activities will always be the largest cost element in an SDI service irrespective of whether the system is built on a controlled vocabulary or on free text searching [12].
It is likely this will also be the case at Norris. CONCLUSION An outline of the computer search service costs previously discussed is provided in Appendix 2. As the use of on-line search services expands the issue of user costs and library subsidy of these costs will become increasingly complex. It is hoped that this paper will be of assistance in studying these issues.
REFERENCES 1. PRICE, DOUGLAS S. Collecting and Reporting Real 2.
3.
4. 5. 6. 7.
8. 9.
Costs of Information Systems. Washington, D.C., American Society for Information Science, 1971. WILSON, JOHN H., JR. Costs, budgeting and economics of information processing. In: Cuadra, Carlos A., and Lukes, Ann, eds. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology. Washington, D.C., American Society for Information Science, 1972. v. 7. p. 39-67. BROWN, CAROLYN P.; YEATES, ELIZABETH J.; AND VAN HOESEN, MARY J. The use and cost of on-line systems at the National Bureau of Standards. In: Husbands, Charles, and Tighe, Ruth, eds. Information Revolution: Proceedings of the 38th ASIS Annual Meeting, Vol. 12, Boston, Mass., 26-30 Oct. 1975. Washington, D.C., American Society for Information Science, 1975. p. 152153. BEMENT, J. H. The new prices-some comparisons. Online 1:9-22, Apr. 1977. CALKINS, M. L. On-line services and operational costs. Spec. Libr. 68: 12-17, Jan. 1977. ELMAN, S. A. Cost comparison of manual and online computerized literature searching. Spec. Libr. 66: 12-18, Jan. 1975. LINFORD, J. To charge or not to charge: a rationale. Libr. J. 102: 2009-2010, Oct. 1, 1977. BLAKE, F. M., AND PERLMUTTER, E. L. The rush to user fees: alternative proposals. Libr. J. 102: 2005-2008, Oct. 1, 1977. WERNER, GLORIA, chairman. Report of the Working Group on Costs and Charges for On-Line Services. Los Angeles, University of California, 1975. Unpublished report. Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 66(4) October 1978
COMPUTER SEARCH SERVICE COSTS 10. MID-ATLANTIc REGIONAL MEDICAL LIBRARY. Guide to cost analysis for NLM on-line services. Bethesda, Md., ?[n.d.] Unpublished report. 11. HAWKINS, D. T. Impact of on-line systems on a literature searching service. Spec. Libr. 67: 559-567, Dec. 1976. 12. GLUCHOWICZ, ZOFIA, AND KAISERFELD, LUISE. Cost structure for a multidisciplinary SDI service over the first five year period. In: Waldron, Helen J.,
and Long, F. Raymond, eds. Innovative Developments in Information Systems: Their Benefits and Costs. Proceedings of the 36th ASIS Annual Meeting, Vol. 10, Los Angeles, Calif., 21-25 Oct. 1973. Washington, D.C., American Society for Information Science, 1973. p. 74-75.
Received March 10, 1978; revision accepted May 31, 1978.
APPENDIX I METHOD FOR CALCULATING FIXED RATE SEARCH CHARGE 1. Estimate number of MEDLINE searches/year 2. Production cost determination (assume average search requires 20 minutes on-line) A. 20 minutes = 1/3 hour B. 1/3 x $15.00/hour (prime-time charge) C. Average search = 130 references off-line Assume 9 references/page (w/o abstracts) 14 pages x $0.12/page D. Total average direct cost 3. Support costs to be recovered A. Terminal paper = 20 rolls/year (assume 8 feet/search x 1500 searches/year and 600 feet/roll) Total terminal paper charge/year B. Search aids (for one searcher)-estimated total (MeSH, Permuted
MeSH. Trees, dictionaries, etc.) C. Terminal maintenance contract D. Free MEDLINE demonstrations 2 hours/month, $15.00/hour = $30.00/month E. Total indirect costs to be recovered 4. Determine support cost/search A. Indirect cost . total searches/year 5. Add together: estimated direct cost/search estimated indirect cost/search Total cost/search
Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 66(4) October 1978
1500 searches/year
$5.00 connect cost/search 14 pages/search $1.68 print cost/search $6.68 direct cost/search
$120.00/year
$85.00/year $300.00/year $360.00/year $865.00/year $0.58 indirect cost/search $6.68 $0.58 $7.26 total cost/search
395
SHERRILYNNE SHIRLEY APPENDIX 2 ON-LINE SEARCH SERVICE COSTS I. Production costs-those tied directly to production 4. Thesauri, search manuals, and other maof a specific search terials to aid in search formulation A. Computer connect time (includes royalties, if 5. On-line charges of search service demonstraany) tions B. Communication costs and/or Tymshare6. Personnel time Telenet costs a) Professional time spent C. Off-line printing and sales tax (if applicable) (1) Teaching potential users about the D. Personnel time-search analyst salary and services fringe benefits (2) By searchers participating in continu1. Requester interview time ing education sessions to update 2. Formulation time search techniques 3. On-line time (3) On new searcher training as a result 4. Print-out edit time of turnover b) Clerical support staff II. Support costs-all other costs not tied directly to a (1) Record keeping specific search (2) Billing A. Start-up costs (3) Receptionist activities 7. Reruns 1. Telephone installation 2. Electrical outlet installation a) Searcher error 3. "Classroom" training time for new searchers b) Printouts lost in the mail 8. "Ready Reference"-brief use of search or on-line practice for experienced services to answer reference questions searchers unfamiliar with a new search lan9. Access to on-line news files guage 10. Uncollectible debts 11. Computer downtime B. Recurring costs 1. Terminal rental or purchase 12. Telephone costs 2. Terminal maintenance contract a) Calls to data base vendors and suppliers 3. Supplies b) Phone calls to search requesters a) Terminal paper c) Telephone service charges 13. Indirect effects of search services on other lib) Forms for record keeping c) Postage brary operations d) Promotional materials III. Overhead e) Miscellaneous supplies: envelopes, staA. Administrative costs tionery, rubber stamps, etc. B. Facilities costs
396
Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 66(4) October 1978
COMPUTERIZED
search services and the expenses required to provide them are a recent development. Whereas it was not necessary for the Norris Medical Library, University of Southern California, to allocate funds for this area in the mid-1960s, by 1973 the total direct expenses at Norris were approximately $3,500 for on-line services. By 1976 annual expenses for these services totaled approximately $15,000. If we were to continue to incur expenses at this rate by 1985 they would represent 90% of our total 1977 budget. For this reason a decision was made to look at mechanisms for recovering some of the costs of providing computer search services. A survey of the literature reveals that much has been written from the production point of view concerning the costs of information services [1,2]. A number of reports have surveyed search services costs in the library from the comparative point of view, either by contrasting search costs across data bases and vendors [3,4] or by analyzing the cost of manual bibliographies versus the cost of computer retrieval of the same references [5,6]. Recently, several papers have appeared on the subject of fee versus free computer search services [7,8]. Not much, however, has been written concerning the practical side of setting prices for computer search services based upon an *Based on a paper presented June 14, 1977, at the Seventy-seventh Annual Meeting of the Medical Library Association, Seattle, Washington.
390
analysis of the costs of providing these services within the library. Development of on-line data bases proceeded rapidly during the late 1960s and early 1970s, and many libraries (especially medical libraries) were forced to make rather hasty decisions to provide access to these data bases. These decisions were made without the benefit of hard data for projecting expenditures. Once the purchase or rental of equipment was made and the searchers trained, it became apparent that most libraries would not be able to indefinitely subsidize the costs of providing free search services. A number of libraries began to charge for searches based upon the "out-ofpocket" expenditure tied to each individual search. These "out-of-pocket" expenses are: (1) computer connect time, (2) direct communication (Telenet and Tymshare), and (3) off-line prints. Many libraries have not gone beyond this basic direct-cost recovery schedule. In 1974 we began to realize that recovery of these direct costs represented only a small part of the total cost commitment of the library in providing search services. Before attempting a revision of our existing price schedule, which at that time was based on recovering only "out-of-pocket" expenses, it was determined that a survey should be made of all of the expenses related to provision of on-line search services. The resulting list of expenses would, of course, vary from library to library in both size and type of expenditure, but the guidelines would probably be relevant to large search service operations where seventy-five or more searches are processed each month. Costs for providing any service or product can be divided into three categories: production cost, support cost, and overhead. A production cost is one that can be tied to a particular production unit-in this case, a bibliographic search. Support costs include all other expenses of an indirect type involved in producing the search. Overhead costs are incurred whether or not searches are being processed. Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 66(4) October 1978
COMPUTER SEARCH SERVICE COSTS
practice time on-line for new searchers should also be considered. It has been estimated that ten hours per searcher would be a minimum time allowance for providing an acceptable level of expertise on a new system (not data base) once the classroom instruction has been completed [9]. Recurring Costs Recurring costs are by far the largest and most complex category of indirect costs to consider. Terminal rental is an obvious recurring cost, but not so obvious is the recurring cost of terminal replacement should the terminal be owned rather than rented. One method for adjusting the cost of replacing a terminal is to depreciate it on an annual basis, so that at the end of a period of time (usually five years) enough money has been set aside to replace the terminal if necessary. Maintenance costs are also recurring, and as terminal owners, it has been our experience that a terminal maintenance contract is definitely a wise investment, judging from the very high cost of terminal parts and repair time. The cost of supplies will, of course, vary from situation to situation; however, it should be possible to estimate these costs based upon past experience in your library. The cost of terminal paper has been roughly estimated at eight feet per search [10] for searches of NLM data bases. Detailed record keeping on a search-by-search basis can be of great assistance in estimating supply costs. Depending upon the volume of searches SUPPORT COSTS and the detail in which the log books are kept, the cost of producing forms for record keeping can be Start-up Costs a factor. Search manuals, thesauri, and other vocabulary Support costs are divided into two categories: start-up costs and recurring costs. Start-up costs aids are extremely important in the formulation of are incurred only once, and that is when the in- effective searches. Not only is the precision of the stallation of the equipment is completed. search improved, but also the time spent on-line Electrical outlet and telephone installation fall can be greatly reduced. For these reasons, despite into this category. With regard to the telephone the very high cost of some search aids, they are connection, it has been our experience that there definitely worth the expense and can save money should be a direct outside line, as terminals con- in the long run. At Norris it is felt that the expense nected by telephone through an institutional of these search aids is a legitimate one to be phone system have a very high rate of broken con- recovered in the price of on-line searches. Free search service demonstrations can be a nections and interference on-line. The extra cost of installing an outside line has definitely been very effective means of introducing new, and for justified at our institution in terms of savings in that matter not so new, data bases. Many searcher time and frustration. potential search requesters are very reluctant to In addition to the costs of electrical installations invest in a search that costs $1.00 per minute; and telephone outlets, there is the cost of training however, a free demonstration can be arranged new searchers-which can be very high, depend- for several people with similar interests to ing upon travel and per diem costs, amount of staff demonstrate the effectiveness of the service and time lost while trainees are away from the job, and reduce the reluctance on the part of the requester. the cost of the class itself. The cost of providing Whether or not the cost of demonstrations should PRODUCTION COSTS Production costs consist of computer connect time (including royalty charges, if any), communication costs, off-line print charges, and personnel time. As mentioned earlier, the first three costs are those most often recovered by libraries, because of the ease with which they can be tied to a given search. Many libraries have not yet begun to recover personnel costs, although these costs are the largest single category of costs involved in providing computer search services. Personnel costs can be calculated easily on a per search basis or can be estimated accurately in the case of largevolume searches of a particular data base. For example, MEDLINE statistics at Norris over the past few years indicate an average on-line time of fifteen minutes per search, while time spent on the search interview and formulation has averaged seventeen minutes per search. When estimating personnel costs, it is necessary to include, in addition to actual salary, a factor for fringe benefits. Costs included in fringe benefits are: vacation, holiday and sick leave pay, payroll taxes, Workman's Compensation, insurance, and where applicable such items as pension plans, hospitalization, life insurance, and so on. Depending upon the organization's policies, these costs vary from 15% to 25% of the direct payroll. Accounting departments can usually provide the fringe benefit factor appropriate to your institution.
Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 66(4) October 1978
391
SHERRILYNNE SHIRLEY
be recovered by including a cost factor for all searches is certainly debatable. Personnel costs can be broken down according to those tied to production of a particular search (direct, or production, costs) and all other personnel costs. Direct personnel costs have already been discussed. Personnel costs of a support nature include expenses for continuing education and review to keep searchers current on new system capabilities and to permit them to brush up on search strategy. These costs may involve travel, per diem, and in some cases fees for class enrollment. Time spent teaching users about search services should be taken into consideration if there are to be search demonstrations. The cost of training new searchers as a result of staff turnover must also be considered. It is not always possible to replace a searcher with another trained searcher. Factors to be considered when estimating the costs of clerical support staff include such activities as record keeping (logging searches in and out), billing, mailing, receptionist duties, compiling of statistics, preparing forms, and typing informational material concerning search services. A recent survey at Norris indicated that an average of fifteen minutes per search is spent on clerical activities. This time is broken down as follows: five miflUites for logbook entries, six minutes for processing time (includes cover letter and notification of requester), and four minutes for search service upkeep (includes statistics, filing, bookkeeping). A number of "housekeeping" factors can result in increased computer search costs, and therefore they should be mentioned. Faulty formulation of searches can result in a necessity for reruns, as can printouts lost in the mail. Searches in both of these categories are rerun by Norris at no cost to the individual requester. On-line search service news files need to be consulted on a daily basis, and it may be desirable to use on-line services for answering certain reference questions or for interlibrary loan verification. Computer downtime, resulting in a complete rerun of a search, and abnormally long computer response time, can contribute to increased costs, although it may not be possible to place a dollar figure on these usually random occurrences. The costs of telephone calls to data base vendors concerning on-line search problems and to data base suppliers concerning vocabulary and strategy can add up. No matter where you are located geographically, questions will still come up that can only be resolved by a long distance 392
call. Fortunately, at least two data base vendors do now offer toll-free trouble "hot lines," a service that can cut these costs considerably. If searches are run for off-campus or out-of-area requesters, there can also be toll telephone charges connected with negotiating a search request or following up on payment. A final telephone cost consists of the monthly charge for telephone service, as well as message unit charges should the Telenet or Tymshare connection be outside the local area. It is necessary, unfortunately, to consider the problem of uncollectible debts. There are several ways of reducing this loss, which was for a time at Norris accounting for as much as 34% of our total search service costs. The most effective solution is "payment in advance" or, alternatively, a sizeabie advance deposit. Finally, it has been found that on-line search services at many institutions have a significant effect on other library services, particularly interlibrary loans. In one instance interlibrary loan requests increased 67% in one year, With many of those requests directly traceable to specific searches [11]. The effect of search services on other library operations cannot be measured in dollars and cents but should be considered. OVERHEAD
Overhead costs are those costs incurred by the library whether or not searches are being run. These costs are also extremely difficult to estimate. The first of these expenses is administrative cost, which covers planning and management of the search service operation. A second expense is facilities cost, that is, the expense of providing heat, light, and power, prorated according to the space devoted to computer search service operations. Certainly, in most library situations it would be neither possible nor desirable to attempt to recover all of the costs listed here. However, it is important that the search service administrators are aware of the large variety of factors that affect the cost of providing search services, and this article should provide a fairly comprehensive checklist of items to be considered. PRICE SETTING
Once a list of search service costs has been identified, it is necessary to attach an actual dollar estimate to the factors that are to be included in the cost recovery formula. If the cost analysis involves a search service that has been in operation for a period of time, many of the costs can be estiBull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 66(4) October 1978
=
COMPUTER SEARCH SERVICE COSTS NORRIS MEDICAL LIBRARY
DAILY ON-LINE SEARCHING LOG
LOS ANGELES COUNTY/USC MEDICAL CENTER LIBRARIES
DATE:
TIME TIME TOAL'PATIENT COMPUrER FILE OR SEARCH ON OFF TIME CARE (P) OR VENDOR DATA BASE ANALYST
=
REQUESr NO.
SEARCH REQUESTER OR READY REF.
PROBLEW
FAILURE"
_
_
FIG. 1.-Daily On-Line Searching Log. *Problem: slow loss of search.
mated based upon past experience. As mentioned earlier, it is very important to keep accurate, detailed records on a search-by-search basis. Our forms provided very complete data, which were extremely useful in our cost survey (Fig. 1 and 2). The Daily On-Line Searching Log is situated next to the terminal, and all searches run are logged here. This form is used principally as a tool for analyzing vendor invoices but has also provided other valuable data. For example, vendor downtime, slow response time, or communication problems can be pinpointed as to day and time, number of searches lost, and so on, so that reports of problems to the vendor can be specific. The Prepaid Search Requests Received Log provides informatidfl concerning the status of i given search from the time of receipt to the tini!
response
time, etc. **Failure: System failure resulted in
the results are mailed or handed to the requester. A form of this type is critical in situations where several searchers at any given time have a number of searches in process. Several other forms are used in our search record keeping; however, these two are most representative. If a new center is being established costs will have to be approximated or borrowed from surveys such as ours until sufficient data has been gathered and a price structure based upon actual experience can be derived. The next step is to determine which costs will be passed on to the search requester and which will be absorbed by the 1ibrary. At this time it is necessary to consider the various categories of users that your library serves and whether it is desirable to establish several price structures. You
PREPAID SEARCH REQUESTS RECEIVED LOG
NORRIS MEDICAL LIBRARY MONTH/YEAR
Date Date Date UTh_ al Recd Act C REQUESTER Ti 2
Status
3I
FIG.
Pd
SEARCH TITLE
5
4
2.-Prepaid
Corn- Other Form Term puter Reqs TimXTime
Search
6
7
8
Edit
Total Medline Backfile's
Time
Time
Refs
Refs
9
10
Requests Received Log.
Columns
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Date activated (date search payment received) Turn-around time Status (borrower code) Paid (amount and form of payment, e.g., check) Vendor
Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 66(4) October 1978
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Other data base requests Formulation time Terminal connect time No. of references retrieved on-line and off-line No. of references retrieved from backfiles
393
SHERRILYNNE SHIRLEY
may wish to provide search services to students based solely upon communication costs and offline prints, while recovering from business and industrial users personnel costs as well as many of the indirect costs. One of the possible price mechanisms is a unit charge per search. A unit charge is desirable for large-volume data bases so that prepayment can be required, thus avoiding the problems of invoicing and uncollectible debts. The basic approach to calculating a unit cost for a high-volume search service is illustrated in Appendix 1. It is assumed that all requesters will be charged the same amount for a MEDLINE search of the current file and that the costs to be recovered are: on-line connect time, off-line prints, search aids, terminal paper, terminal maintenance, and free MEDLINE demonstrations. (For the purposes of this illustration, assume that the terminal is used only for MEDLINE searching. Should the terminal be used for other purposes as well, it would be necessary to determine the percentage of usage for MEDLINE searching and to prorate the terminal costs accordingly.) All other costs, including personnel costs, are to be absorbed by the library. The unit charge approach does not, however, work well on the more expensive data bases where searches are run infrequently and vary greatly in length of time on-line from search to search and cost per minute from data base to data base. Here the charges can be based on actual on-line connect charges and off-line print charges for each search, with a service charge added to cover other production and support costs. The service charge is derived by totaling all of the costs to be recovered and prorating the charge in one of two ways. It can be added to the vendor's hourly charge, thus tying the cost assessment to the length of search connect time; the assumption here is that the longer the search the greater the indirect costs connected with it. Or the service charge can be assessed on a per search basis. If a variable service charge is desirable, one possibility is to assess "in-house" users for selected indirect costs, while charging outside users for personnel costs as well as for indirect costs. The variations are many. The form the service charge takes, whether tied to on-line costs or to a strict unit basis, will depend upon the library's user population and, possibly, the availability of clerical assistance. The more complex the fee schedule, the more time required to process searches, prepare invoices, and maintain other records. Libraries with limited 394
clerical assistance will undoubtedly want to keep their search procedures as simple as possible. There has been no attempt made here to discuss the costs involved in providing SDI services. We are currently studying this area. One published study of SDI service costs over a five-year period concludes that the intellectual effort in formulating a query into a search profile, on maintaining user system interaction in the form of personal contacts, feedback and marketing activities will always be the largest cost element in an SDI service irrespective of whether the system is built on a controlled vocabulary or on free text searching [12].
It is likely this will also be the case at Norris. CONCLUSION An outline of the computer search service costs previously discussed is provided in Appendix 2. As the use of on-line search services expands the issue of user costs and library subsidy of these costs will become increasingly complex. It is hoped that this paper will be of assistance in studying these issues.
REFERENCES 1. PRICE, DOUGLAS S. Collecting and Reporting Real 2.
3.
4. 5. 6. 7.
8. 9.
Costs of Information Systems. Washington, D.C., American Society for Information Science, 1971. WILSON, JOHN H., JR. Costs, budgeting and economics of information processing. In: Cuadra, Carlos A., and Lukes, Ann, eds. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology. Washington, D.C., American Society for Information Science, 1972. v. 7. p. 39-67. BROWN, CAROLYN P.; YEATES, ELIZABETH J.; AND VAN HOESEN, MARY J. The use and cost of on-line systems at the National Bureau of Standards. In: Husbands, Charles, and Tighe, Ruth, eds. Information Revolution: Proceedings of the 38th ASIS Annual Meeting, Vol. 12, Boston, Mass., 26-30 Oct. 1975. Washington, D.C., American Society for Information Science, 1975. p. 152153. BEMENT, J. H. The new prices-some comparisons. Online 1:9-22, Apr. 1977. CALKINS, M. L. On-line services and operational costs. Spec. Libr. 68: 12-17, Jan. 1977. ELMAN, S. A. Cost comparison of manual and online computerized literature searching. Spec. Libr. 66: 12-18, Jan. 1975. LINFORD, J. To charge or not to charge: a rationale. Libr. J. 102: 2009-2010, Oct. 1, 1977. BLAKE, F. M., AND PERLMUTTER, E. L. The rush to user fees: alternative proposals. Libr. J. 102: 2005-2008, Oct. 1, 1977. WERNER, GLORIA, chairman. Report of the Working Group on Costs and Charges for On-Line Services. Los Angeles, University of California, 1975. Unpublished report. Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 66(4) October 1978
COMPUTER SEARCH SERVICE COSTS 10. MID-ATLANTIc REGIONAL MEDICAL LIBRARY. Guide to cost analysis for NLM on-line services. Bethesda, Md., ?[n.d.] Unpublished report. 11. HAWKINS, D. T. Impact of on-line systems on a literature searching service. Spec. Libr. 67: 559-567, Dec. 1976. 12. GLUCHOWICZ, ZOFIA, AND KAISERFELD, LUISE. Cost structure for a multidisciplinary SDI service over the first five year period. In: Waldron, Helen J.,
and Long, F. Raymond, eds. Innovative Developments in Information Systems: Their Benefits and Costs. Proceedings of the 36th ASIS Annual Meeting, Vol. 10, Los Angeles, Calif., 21-25 Oct. 1973. Washington, D.C., American Society for Information Science, 1973. p. 74-75.
Received March 10, 1978; revision accepted May 31, 1978.
APPENDIX I METHOD FOR CALCULATING FIXED RATE SEARCH CHARGE 1. Estimate number of MEDLINE searches/year 2. Production cost determination (assume average search requires 20 minutes on-line) A. 20 minutes = 1/3 hour B. 1/3 x $15.00/hour (prime-time charge) C. Average search = 130 references off-line Assume 9 references/page (w/o abstracts) 14 pages x $0.12/page D. Total average direct cost 3. Support costs to be recovered A. Terminal paper = 20 rolls/year (assume 8 feet/search x 1500 searches/year and 600 feet/roll) Total terminal paper charge/year B. Search aids (for one searcher)-estimated total (MeSH, Permuted
MeSH. Trees, dictionaries, etc.) C. Terminal maintenance contract D. Free MEDLINE demonstrations 2 hours/month, $15.00/hour = $30.00/month E. Total indirect costs to be recovered 4. Determine support cost/search A. Indirect cost . total searches/year 5. Add together: estimated direct cost/search estimated indirect cost/search Total cost/search
Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 66(4) October 1978
1500 searches/year
$5.00 connect cost/search 14 pages/search $1.68 print cost/search $6.68 direct cost/search
$120.00/year
$85.00/year $300.00/year $360.00/year $865.00/year $0.58 indirect cost/search $6.68 $0.58 $7.26 total cost/search
395
SHERRILYNNE SHIRLEY APPENDIX 2 ON-LINE SEARCH SERVICE COSTS I. Production costs-those tied directly to production 4. Thesauri, search manuals, and other maof a specific search terials to aid in search formulation A. Computer connect time (includes royalties, if 5. On-line charges of search service demonstraany) tions B. Communication costs and/or Tymshare6. Personnel time Telenet costs a) Professional time spent C. Off-line printing and sales tax (if applicable) (1) Teaching potential users about the D. Personnel time-search analyst salary and services fringe benefits (2) By searchers participating in continu1. Requester interview time ing education sessions to update 2. Formulation time search techniques 3. On-line time (3) On new searcher training as a result 4. Print-out edit time of turnover b) Clerical support staff II. Support costs-all other costs not tied directly to a (1) Record keeping specific search (2) Billing A. Start-up costs (3) Receptionist activities 7. Reruns 1. Telephone installation 2. Electrical outlet installation a) Searcher error 3. "Classroom" training time for new searchers b) Printouts lost in the mail 8. "Ready Reference"-brief use of search or on-line practice for experienced services to answer reference questions searchers unfamiliar with a new search lan9. Access to on-line news files guage 10. Uncollectible debts 11. Computer downtime B. Recurring costs 1. Terminal rental or purchase 12. Telephone costs 2. Terminal maintenance contract a) Calls to data base vendors and suppliers 3. Supplies b) Phone calls to search requesters a) Terminal paper c) Telephone service charges 13. Indirect effects of search services on other lib) Forms for record keeping c) Postage brary operations d) Promotional materials III. Overhead e) Miscellaneous supplies: envelopes, staA. Administrative costs tionery, rubber stamps, etc. B. Facilities costs
396
Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 66(4) October 1978
