Boo! Outsourcing from the cataloging perspective

The very term “outsourcing” is seen by many cataloging departments as a scary word. However, the term is used to mean different things by different people. It carries meanings ranging from traditionally outsourced activities to more recent outsourcing of entire functions, departments, or units. This article identifies long‐accepted ways in which cataloging departments have utilized outsourcing and differences and similarities between those practices and more recent outsourcing activities.