Library Technical Services Research Articles

Will People Talk to People?:

Libraries will remain recognizable as we now know them in the near future. There will be an increased demand and utilization of the library by the public, where the library will function as an information evaluation and referral agency. It will successfully compete economically with vendors offering commercial information products. It will adapt service functions and its organizational structure to meet the demand for a more highly trained professional who possesses a greater arsenal of skills and has more perceived expertise than librarians now do. Specialization in assignments will come through knowledge of subject fields; there will be a sharper division between administrative personnel and the professional group, and there will be a smaller corps of clericals. Most technical service functions will be done in bibliographic processing centers outside the library. Technical service librarians will be absorbed into the public service ranks, become systems analyst consultants, work in bibliographic record ...

How Will Automation Affect Cataloging Staff?

This article considers the affect of the continuing spread of automation on library technical services in general, and on cataloging staff in particular. Support is given to the view that staff will decline and that the distinction between technical staff and public staff will erode. A mix of technical-public service work is urged for all staff in addition to a safe and healthy automated workplace. Future cataloging procedures in a fully automated setting are projected, and greater productivity with lower costs are predicted. The automated library should be a better library, but it is vital that change in job content and staffing patterns accompany the new technical environment.

Vendor Services in the Information Age

In the next ten years, libraries will look to vendors for more and greater services than in past decades. The vendor will assume a role as member on the library's technical services team and will provide vital operational support, which will enable the library to better serve the end user, with reduced library staff. The relationship between vendor and library will be interactive, evolving from buyer/seller to team approach. The end user will increasingly influence both library and vendor decision-making as the information chain rightens.

The impact of technology on the rôle of the technical services librarian of academia in the USA

The impact of technology on the rôle of the technical services librarian of academia in the USA

Editorial: Tails Wagging Dogs

Editorial: Tails Wagging Dogs

ACCESS POINTS FOR SERIALS

SERIALS pose a problem for cataloguers which is essentially simple in its solution. Title entry is the obvious and most satisfactory method of entering a serial in a catalogue and has been recognised as such by modern cataloguing codes. However, a large number of serials are issued or published by corporate bodies and because cataloguing codes have failed to find a suitable solution to the difficulties of entry under corporate body they have created considerable confusion with the construction of consistent access points. The problem has still not been resolved and in the summer 1980 issue of Library resources and technical services C. Sumner Spalding observed that “the most significant category of publications for which the application of the corporate author principle has had its most severe challenge is serials”.

Technical Services Librarians in Library Instruction

Technical Services Librarians in Library Instruction

Introduction to Library Technical Services (Book Review)

Introduction to Library Technical Services (Book Review)

Using an online microfiche catalog for technical service and retrieval of bibliographic data

A prototype system is created that integrates a microfiche catalog into an online computer system for bibliographic control. Costs and operational data are collected and analyzed. The system permits the more economical microfiche storage of catalog records than would be feasible for comparable online magnetic disk storage. Experimental tests demonstrate the feasibility of the online microfiche catalog system for use in library technical services and retrieval of bibliographic data. The primary result of the project is the creation of a completely operational facility, including all equipment, software, procedures, and data bases necessary to demonstrate the system. A second set of results is derived from the experimental use of the system and the evaluation of costs and times for various operations. The cost effectiveness of the online microfiche catalog is demonstrated.

Bridging the gap between acquisitions and public services: One approach

Rather than perpetuating the misunderstandings between public services and technical services librarians, a series of statements were written, setting forth the internal agreements, policies, and general procedures that existed within an academic library. The statements have also been a useful tool in the orientation of new staff members.

Academic librarians' jobtype and contact with information sources

AbstractThe jobtype of an academic librarian appears to be an important determinant as to his/her corresponding contacts with various types of information sources. Administrators contact substantially more information sources than do public service librarians, who, in turn, contact more information sources than technical service librarians. Contacts with information sources may be a useful means to describe the nature of an employee's position not only in terms of routineness, but other organizational characteristics as well.

GPO micropublishing: An historical review and critical analysis

Government documents constitute a substantial segment of the receipts of most depository libraries. The volume of documents and their varying formats are therefore a concern to library administrators, technical and public service librarians, as well as documents librarians. The Government Printing Office's recent microfiche distribution program results in part from an attempt to implement the Depository Library Act of 1962 and in part from GPO's interest in containing its costs. The authors discuss the ambiguities in the law, a present cause of confusion and self-contradiction. An extended historical discussion provides a perspective for the reader. Following that, there is a review of the specific events leading up to the present microfiche program, and an examination of the ramifications GPO's pre- and post-microfiche activities have had and will have on library acquisition and servicing procedures. The authors maintain that the law itself needs rewriting, but primarily focus on specific concerns for implementation of the present program because the larger matter of legislation cannot properly be addressed here.

Library Technical Services: A Selected, Annotated Bibliography (Book Review)

Library Technical Services: A Selected, Annotated Bibliography (Book Review)

A Sample Distribution of Subject Interests among the Faculty of American Library Schools

THE PURPOSE of this study was to survey the potential coverage of various fields of librarianship in the curricula of professional library schools. The main information sought was: (a) a profile of the fields of specialization among library school faculty; (b) a scope of subject interests as represented by the listings of individual library schools; (c) a distribution of library subject interests among major library fields; and (d) the extent of coverage in library school curricula of topics pertinent to the technical services. The study has been undertaken as an unofficial, preliminary step to a larger survey, conducted by the American Library Association's Reference and Technical Services Division/Library Education Division Committee on Education for Resources and Technical Services. The

Impact of National Developments on Library Technical Services and Public Services

Several recently established national programs are evaluated from the point of view of the practicing librarian. It is essential that we be aware of the consequences of adopting these programs, and that planners and librarians communicate adequately.

The Use of the Library of Congress Classification: Proceedings of the Institute on the Use of the Library of Congress Classification Sponsored by the American Library Association, Resources and Technical Services Division, Cataloging and Classification Section, New York City, July 7-9, 1966. Richard H. Schimmelpfeng, C. Donald Cook

<i>The Use of the Library of Congress Classification: Proceedings of the Institute on the Use of the Library of Congress Classification Sponsored by the American Library Association, Resources and Technical Services Division, Cataloging and Classification Section, New York City, July 7-9, 1966</i>. Richard H. Schimmelpfeng, C. Donald Cook

A Least Cost Searching Sequence

IN EVALUATING the procedures of the acquisitions department of the Pennsylvania State University library system, the cost of searching to order a book was found to be $.73. In addition, an order form had a rather high in-process time. An analysis of the flow of order forms through the department showed that a bottleneck was occurring with the searching procedure. As a result of this many order forms were being marked rush, and routine items were faced with an even higher in-process time. The library was faced with adding searchers or with accepting the fact that there would almost always be a backlog of unprocessed orders. The latter would result in a high in-process flow time thus reducing service to patrons and requiring that needed course material be ordered well in advance of the time when it was actually needed. The technical services librarian, the catalog librarian, an industrial engineer, and the librarian in charge of library systems research met and compared the amount of searching needed to identify adequately a publtcation to be purchased with the amount of searching needed for complete bibliographic information. At the time, it was decided that the library would adopt for a trial period an adequate information philosophy. The possibility that duplicate copies would occasionally be received was considered together with the increased probability of obtaining the wrong books. However, the fact that searching time would be considerably reduced thus increasing the number of possible searches in a given period of time was assumed to outweigh Mr. Lazorick is Industrial Engineer, and Mr. Minder is Engineering Librarian, in Pennsylvania State University.

"The Literature of Document Reproduction." By Allen B. Veanor. In The Literature of Library Technical Services (University of Illinois Library School Occasional Papers, No. 58), pp. 25-37. (Book Review)

"The Literature of Document Reproduction." By Allen B. Veanor. In The Literature of Library Technical Services (University of Illinois Library School Occasional Papers, No. 58), pp. 25-37. (Book Review)

The Literature of Library Technical Services. Publications Committee, Resources and Technical Services Division, American Library Association

<i>The Literature of Library Technical Services</i>. Publications Committee, Resources and Technical Services Division, American Library Association