Library Resources Technical Services

Will library technical services exist thirty years from now? If so, what do leading experts see as the direction of the field? In this visionary look at the future of technical services, Mary Beth Weber, Head of Central Technical Services at Rutgers and editor of Library Resources and Technical Services (LRTS), the official journal of ALA’s Association for Library Collections and Technical Services and one of the top peer-reviewed scholarly technical services journals has compiled a veritable who’s who of the field to answer just these questions. Experts including Amy K. Weiss, Sylvia Hall-Ellis, and Sherri L. Vellucci answer vital questions like: Is there a future for traditional cataloging, acquisitions, and technical services? How can librarians influence the outcome of vendor-provided resources such as e-books, licensing, records sets, and authority control? Will RDA live up to its promise? Are approval plans and subject profiles relics of the past? Is there a need to curate data through its lifecycle? What skills will be needed in the future in technical services jobs?

This exciting volume explores the role of technical services functions and organizational structure as forces in the library change process. It provides practical information to help administrators make decisions about how their libraries are organized and managed. As libraries change in many ways--organizational structure, design of jobs, managerial philosophy, responsibilities of professionals, and the impact of automation--librarians in technical services, administrators, and personnel officers--need guidance in meeting the new challenges in order to continue providing thorough efficient services. Professionals from a variety of library environments address the pertinent issues of automation, personnel matters, education, management techniques, and the role of technical services within the total library community.

"The processes for acquiring, cataloging, and preserving resources have undergone dramatic changes in the past decade, and library technical services departments have had to evolve quickly in response. Often, librarians asked to take on technical services management roles find themselves both underprepared and without guidance from their institutions"--P. [4] of cover.

Volume 6 of the series Creating the 21st-Century Academic Library is focused on academic library technical services operations, and ways that they have been transformed and reimagined for working in today’s higher education environment. The literature on the place and role of technical services, technical services librarians, technical services staff, and technical services operations has expanded and grown in the last few years as decreased budgets, a focus on essential public services, and information discovery on the Internet has driven the profession to re-examine the need or importance of this back-end (or hidden) library department. Topics discussed in this book include frameworks for the networked environment, roles for metadata librarians in the areas of research data and digital initiatives, the renewed focus on the discovery of information and its place in academic libraries, the new “normal” in academic library technical services operations, emerging roles and opportunities for technical services managers, the re-training and re-skilling of technical services staff, hidden collections and needed or unexplored areas of expertise with technical services librarians and staff, the faceted application of subject headings (FAST) and obsolete or outdated subject terminology within Library of Congress Subject Headings, and a conversation about downsizing and moving forward within a law library technical services unit.

Everything you need to know about technical services--in one handy volume! For library technicians working in technical services and students in library technology programs, Introduction to Technical Services for Library Technicians is a practical, how-to-do-it text that shows how to perform the behind-the-scenes tasks the job requires. This essential volume comes complete with a suggested reading list, helpful charts and tables, a look at trends and issues to consider, and review questions at the end of each chapter. From the Preface: ”Budgetary constraints and the computerization of library functions and routines have changed the composition of library personnel forever. Library technicians are being hired to replace librarians in many library areas, particularly in technical services. What has not kept up with this trend are the training and education of library technicians, a necessary component of a successfully operating library.” This book examines terminology, organization, and the practical aspects of the tasks that technical services workers deal with every day. Here's a sample of what is explored in Introduction to Technical Services for Library Technicians: computers and library automation bibliographic utilities and networks including OCLC, RLG, UTLAS, the Internet, and more library cooperation from the local to the international level acquisitions procedures, gifts, and exchanges copy cataloging, original cataloging, subject cataloging, and the MARC record government publications serials--ordering, cataloging, control, terminology, e-journals, and more preservation--treating damaged materials, book repair, good housekeeping practices, factors of deterioration, and more Intended primarily as a textbook for students in a two-year library technology program or one-year certificate program, this book will also serve very well as a general reference for library technicians or other staff members working in the technical services area.

More than 150 quotes from celebrities and wise people to keep new parents smiling through the sleepless nights Whether one's new family addition has arrived or is on its way, this book is guaranteed to raise a chuckle. It's full of humorous observations from well-known people on the adventures and misadventures of their new offspring.

Libraries are experiencing major changes concerning the role of technical services. Technical services librarians also are being challenged about their relevance and role, sometimes revealed by a lack of understanding of the contribution technical services librarians make to building and curating library and archival collections. The threats are real: relocation from central facilities, the dramatic shift to electronic resources, budgetary constraints, and outsourced processing. As a result, technical services departments are reinventing themselves to respond to these and similar challenges while embracing innovative methods and opportunities to advance librarianship in the twenty-first century. Library Technical Services provides case studies that highlight difficult realities, yet embrace exciting opportunities, such as space reclamation, evolving vendor partnerships, metadata, retraining and managing personnel, special collections, and distance education. Written for catalog and metadata librarians and managers of technical services units, this book will inspire and provide practical advice and examples for solving issues many libraries are facing today.