Just like in Celine Dion's song, "All By Myself," teacher-librarians "don't want to be all by [them]selves anymore" in the library. They say it takes a village to raise a child, well similarly, it takes a team to maintain a library.
Luckily for teacher-librarians, there are a few "Jobbers" available. Jobbers are companies which buy books from multiple publishers and then prepare packages of selected books for purchase. A teacher-librarian would have the option to purchase the accompanying MARC records, and/or to have the books processed (barcodes and spine labels attached). Of course, these extra services cost extra fees, so it all comes down to a time vs. cost balance.
Generally, I don't think any teacher-librarian in his/her right mind would say "no" to a satisfactory MARC record, but whether he/she would want to prepare the book on-site in his/her own library is a matter of preference, and available time.
Personally, I enjoy the arts-and-crafts aspect of barcoding and attaching spine labels, but it is important to keep that time to a minimum so that there are plenty of opportunities to teach critical information and literacy skills in the library.
The decision to use these services (or not to use them) is completely up to the teacher-librarian, and the administration responsible for the library. The ultimate goal is to provide access (there's that word again) for students and staff to the newly acquired resources ASAP.
Here's a brief and incomplete list of a few available Jobbers:
Titlewave: Follett Library Resources
United Library Services
CanLit for Kids
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