Outsourcing library functions: a bibliometric study in SSCI

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the bibliometric study of journal articles in Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) related to outsourcing library functions, including publication trends from 1994 to 2015, core journals, authorship and citing articles used for librarians and researchers to have a basic reference of relevant resources. Design/methodology/approach The methodology consisted of journal article searches in SSCI with 1994-2015 as the date limiter. The search terms came from the topic of outsourcing to the topic of library by using the Boolean operator; and results were used in the Web of Science (WOS) database based on pre-determined categories and were evaluated based on the five research questions about core journals, authorship and citing articles. Findings The findings were based on the five research questions evaluated in the bibliometric study. There were 55 articles published on the topics of outsourcing and library authored by 80 individuals between 1994 and 2015. In the 55 articles analyzed, there were 24 different journals represented with 150 times cited. Originality/value This study takes the bibliometric analysis approach, which has rarely been used on the topics of outsourcing and library articles with the specific focus on library finance issues. It provides a foundation for further research on the topic as well as resources to be used by librarians and researchers.