Library Technical Services Research Articles

Reaching Students Through Teaching

Technical services librarians do not often have the opportunity to directly interact with students. At the University of Memphis two technical services librarians seized the opportunity to reach students by teaching a one credit-hour course in the Helen Hardin Honors College. The authors designed a course called Wikipedia: For the Undergraduate Researcher. The course uses the website, Wikipedia, as a lens through which to teach undergraduate students about information literacy, scholarly communication, and information privilege. The authors share their experiences teaching, the lessons they learned as well as taught, in two different iterations, in person and virtually.

A Preliminary Investigation of Technical Services Librarians’ Contributions to Library Guides in Academic Libraries

ABSTRACT Online library guides are one of the bridges that librarians build to connect users to available resources and services. Since the time when library guides were conceived in the pamphlets and book lists of the early days, a historical brand bearing public and instructional services librarians’ merit and reputation has been watermarked in their presentation. In the internet age, have technical services librarians also played a role in contributing to library guides in academic libraries to assist students’ learning and faculty teaching? If so, do technical services librarians who are working as faculty tend to produce more library guides than ones as professionals? Do librarians working in six functional areas, namely, Acquisition, Cataloging &Metadata, Collection Development, Continuing & Electronic Resources, Preservation, and Technical Services (Solo) have similar contributions to library guides? What types of library guides do they tend to produce more? Any recommendations for future library guide work which technical services librarians will engage in? This research examined 233 colleges and universities and examined 296 academic libraries, attempting to find answers to these questions.

Exploring the evidence-base for electronic access troubleshooting: Where research meets practice

The evidence-base of scholarly literature dedicated to e-resource access management and problem resolution maintains an important place in the discipline wherein librarians can share their knowledge, experience, and research dedicated to supporting users and minimizing interruptions. To date, no study has gathered and examined the literature surrounding e-access troubleshooting that exists in journals dedicated in scope to library technical services. Using a qualitative content analysis methodology, the author examines thirty-five articles pertaining to e-access troubleshooting in order to identify trends and illuminate gaps in the evidence base whereupon future studies may build.

On the State of Genre/Form Vocabulary: A Quantitative Analysis of LCGFT Data in WorldCat

The purpose of this paper is to report on a quantitative analysis of the LCGFT vocabulary within a large set of MARC bibliographic data retrieved from the OCLC WorldCat database. The study aimed to provide a detailed analysis of the outcomes of the LCGFT project, which was launched by the Library of Congress (LC) in 2007. Findings point to a moderate increase in LCGFT use over time; however, the vocabulary has not been applied to the fullest extent possible in WorldCat. Further, adoption has been inconsistent between the various LCGFT disciplines. These and other findings discussed here suggest that retrospective application of the vocabulary using automated means should be investigated by catalogers and other technical services librarians. Indeed, as the data used for the analysis show somewhat uneven application of LCGFT, and with nearly half a billion records in WorldCat, it remains a certainty that much of LCGFT’s full potentials for genre/form access and retrieval will remain untapped until innovative solutions are introduced to further increase overall vocabulary usage in bibliographic databases.

Technical services librarians and outreach: Communicating our value to engage students in critical thinking about information

The work of technical services is often invisible to users, even as it ensures their seamless discovery of and access to curated content. In order to address the invisibility of their work, technical services librarians in academic library settings increasingly seek opportunities to communicate its importance and impact on student learning and engagement. Initiatives to make the work of technical services visible increasingly appear in the scholarly literature and in academic library outreach.

Migration as a Catalyst for Organizational Change in Technical Services

ABSTRACT This article describes the changes within the Western Michigan University Libraries Technical Services Department during a five-year period from 2012 to 2017, which involved a reorganization of staff and the migration to Alma/Primo, Ex Libris’ next-generation library management system and discovery solution. The aim of this case study is to understand the role these two significant events played in the transformation of the department.

Artificial intelligence tools and perspectives of university librarians: An overview

The main purpose of this paper is to assess and examine the possible application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in Pakistani academic libraries, particularly those areas of library technical and library user services where AI could be applied in the near future. A secondary purpose is to bring the library perspective on AI to the forefront of the scholarly world. This is a self-exploratory study, in which a qualitative approach interview has been conducted with 10 chief librarians/library heads (5 public + 5 private sectors) from universities regarding their views on the adoption of artificial intelligence tools in Pakistani academic libraries. Results are tabulated in a descriptive format. Librarians are aware of AI technologies. Services based on Natural Language Processing (NLP) are used in libraries, e.g. Google Assistant, Voice Searching, and Google Translate. Pattern recognition methods, such as text data mining, are also used to retrieve library material and conduct online searching. Big data is accessed via services such as cloud computing, OneDrive, and Google Drive. There is a very low level of awareness of robotics and chatbots. This study provides librarians with suggestions as to how AI tools could be used in libraries which either have yet to adopt AI technologies or wish to implement more advanced tools. Pakistani library schools could collaborate with computer science departments to establish AI Labs in the respective library and information science (LIS) departments/libraries. AI challenges funding and technological skills are the key problem to implement with AI in the University Libraries.

The Silent Battle on the Budget: The Effect of Centralized Indexing on Collection Analysis in Primo and EBSCO

Significant cuts to the collections budget and a fire in the main library at Kansas State University transitioned the Libraries toward an increased focus upon electronic resources management. As electronic resource discovery continues to be hampered by market competition between Ex Libris and EBSCO library vendors, difficulties were identified in obtaining accurate usage statistics for resource renewal reviews, particularly EBSCO products. Kansas State University Libraries use the ALMA URM in combination with Primo discovery service, which experiences known resolver complications when paired with EBSCO resources. Technical services librarians and information technology staff tested several workarounds, but the question remains whether any proposed resolutions can be truly effective in avoiding collection usage biases and analytical discrepancies, resulting from exclusive indexing. Crunching the numbers, monetarily and analytically, the Ex Libris and EBSCO rivalry is an onerous battle on the budget and resource renewal process.

Remote Work in Library Technical Services: Connecting Historical Perspectives to Realities of the Developing COVID-19 Pandemic

The concept and practice of remote work in library technical services is not new, but the scale and speed of the transition to remote work for many libraries due to the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented. This column provides an overview of pre-pandemic literature on remote work in library technical services and briefly examines the history, planning, case studies, technology and equity concerns, challenges, and potential benefits of remote work. Initial connections are drawn between existing literature and the impact of the pandemic on remote work, and future directions for research and discussion are offered.

Intelligent libraries: a review on expert systems, artificial intelligence, and robot

PurposeThis paper reviews literature on the application of intelligent systems in the libraries with a special issue on the ES/AI and Robot. Also, it introduces the potential of libraries to use intelligent systems, especially ES/AI and robots.Design/methodology/approachDescriptive and content review methods are applied, and the researchers critically reviewed the articles related to library ESs and robots from Web of Science as a general database and Emerald as a specific database in library and information science from 2007–2017. Four scopes considered to classify the articles as technology, service, user and resource. It is found that published researches on the intelligent systems have contributed to many librarian purposes like library technical services like the organization of information resources, storage and retrieval of information resources, library public services as reference services, information desk and other purposes.FindingsA review of the previous studies shows that ESs are a useable intelligent system in library and information science that mimic librarian expert’s behaviors to support decision making and management. Also, it is shown that the current information systems have a high potential to be improved by integration with AI technologies. In this researches, librarian robots mostly designed for detection and replacing books on the shelf. Improving the technology of gripping, localizing and human-robot interaction are the main concern in recent librarian robot research. Our conclusion is that we need to develop research in the area of smart resources.Originality/valueThis study has a new approach to the literature review in this area. We compared the published papers in the field of ES/AI and robot and library from two databases, general and specific.

The Use of Linked Data and Artificial Intelligence as Key Elements in the Transformation of Technical Services

Library Technical Services have benefited from numerous stimuli. Although initially looked at with suspicion, transitions such as the move from catalog cards to the MARC formats have proven enormously helpful to libraries and their patrons. Linked data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) hold the same promise. Through the conversion of metadata surrogates (cataloging) to linked open data, libraries can represent their resources on the Semantic Web. But in order to provide some form of controlled access to unstructured data, libraries must reach beyond traditional cataloging to new tools such as AI to provide consistent access to a growing world of full-text resources.

A New Direction for Library Technical Services: Using Metadata Skills to Improve User Accessibility

An increased awareness about the importance of resource accessibility for all library users has set the stage for transforming traditional cataloger roles into a new realm of possibility. The Acquisitions & Discovery (A&D) and the User Experience (UX) departments of North Carolina State University Libraries have formed a partnership to explore the benefits of working together amidst this climate of innovation and change. A pilot project was created to develop a workflow through which technical services staff can use their metadata skills to help resolve accessibility issues found on the Libraries’ main website. By performing this work, staff can grow in technical expertise, enhance the quality of metadata in web content, and build mutually beneficial partnerships within the library community.

Book Review: Assessment Strategies in Technical Services (An ALCTS Monograph)

Assessment of all library services is essential to meeting user needs, and more than ever, it is critical to practice assessment consistently within library technical services departments. Rising costs, space issues, budget issues, changing models within the publishing industry, and providing resources that meet users’ needs all have a role in this criticality. Long-standing assessment practices that are likely numbers-based and rely on “how much” of a certain area, such as how many books were purchased or how many new items were added to the collection during a given timeframe, are only a piece of the broader picture of assessment. Statistics have their time and place in library assessment, and Assessment Strategies in Technical Services provides a detailed, well-organized introduction to methods that technical services staff can use to either rethink or establish a culture of assessment within their department units.

Book Review: Assessment Strategies in Technical Services (An ALCTS Monograph)

Assessment of all library services is essential to meeting user needs, and more than ever, it is critical to practice assessment consistently within library technical services departments. Rising costs, space issues, budget issues, changing models within the publishing industry, and providing resources that meet users’ needs all have a role in this criticality. Long-standing assessment practices that are likely numbers-based and rely on “how much” of a certain area, such as how many books were purchased or how many new items were added to the collection during a given timeframe, are only a piece of the broader picture of assessment. Statistics have their time and place in library assessment, and Assessment Strategies in Technical Services provides a detailed, well-organized introduction to methods that technical services staff can use to either rethink or establish a culture of assessment within their department units.

Leveraging Cataloging and Collection Development Expertise to Improve OER Discovery

While there is ongoing improvement in some of the larger open educational resources (OER) search engines, librarians sending emails to listservs asking “anyone know of OER on this topic?” and keeping old-fashioned reading lists of valuable OER are common occurrences. Compared to searching for books in a library catalog or scholarly articles in a research database, finding OER wherever they may be is challenging even for librarians, not to mention instructional faculty. The reason is technical: subpar and variable metadata in OER search engines leads to difficulties searching, capturing, and sharing data across repositories. In other words, the current lack of robust, descriptive metadata for OER results in fewer access points. Thus, OER are comparatively hard to find. Bibliographic control for purposes of information storage and retrieval is something librarians are experts in, but we have not shared our methods with the Open Education community yet. So far, the majority of library advocates for OER have been reference and instruction librarians, as well as library directors. This is great, and we need them to continue to champion OER creation and adoption, but the Open Education movement needs technical services librarians to step forward and apply their cataloging and systems administration expertise to streamline access to the sprawling landscape of OER content; our profession would do well to share our collection development expertise as well. To this end, Clare Sobotka, Reference Assistant at Linn-Benton Community College (LBCC), Holly Wheeler, Library Cataloging and Metadata Specialist at Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC), and Heather White, Library Technical Services & OER Coordinator, along with their colleagues, have started to experiment with creating collection development policies and MARC records for OER. Ultimately, they hope for the development of a metadata schema that is shared between the Open Education and library communities and is mapped to MARC and RDA, to improve both catalog records and OER search engines across the web.

A Cataloger’s Perspective on Cataloging Backlogs

Backlogs in cataloging are an unpleasant fact for many library technical service departments. While backlogs may be strategic in nature and smooth out the workflow from acquisitions to cataloging, many are simply uncataloged gifts, unfinished retrospective conversion projects, or low-priority uncataloged collections—all waiting to be addressed when everything else is caught up. Catalogers are often stereotyped as perfectionists; in reality, the nature of our work requires us to be very pragmatic. By substituting a less than full record, progress on reducing backlogs is possible.

Online Documentation Portals in Library Technical Services: Shedding Light on Local Practices and Procedures

The creation, sharing, and maintenance of documentation are critical to support the often detailed and complex work of library technical services units. This column examines documentation portals that share technical services policies and procedures, with a focus on library-based portals that are accessible to personnel within the associated libraries while also being fully or partially open to external users. A review of the literature is provided, as well as links to and descriptions of selected portal examples.

Accessing Web Archives: Integrating an Archive-It Collection into EBSCO Discovery Service

Effective collaboration between archives and technical services can increase the discoverability of special collection materials. Archivists at the University of Dayton Libraries began using Archive-It to capture websites relevant to their collecting policies in 2015. However, the collections were only made available to users from the University of Dayton page on the Archive-It website. Content was isolated in a separate platform and was not promoted to users. Working together, the team of archivists and technical services librarians incorporated the web archive collections into the Libraries’ EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) discovery layer. A local data dictionary was created based on OCLC’s Descriptive Metadata for Web Archiving report (2018), and metadata was added at the seed and collection levels. The result was indexed content on a single, user-friendly platform. The web archive collections were then marketed to the University of Dayton community, and statistics were generated on their use.

Make It So: Mission Statements in Library Technical Services Units

ABSTRACTFor decades, libraries have used mission statements as a tool to inform patrons about their services and mission. Some library units use the same tool to communicate their services to the other units within the library and to external stakeholders. A survey sent out to the AUTOCAT and OCLC-CAT listservs collected information from librarians and staff about their technical services related mission statements. Copies of the mission statements were requested as part of the survey. The information gathered from this exploratory study provides an initial, broad view of how library technical services use mission statements, which could spark further research.

Reports of Conferences, Institutes, and Seminars

This quarter’s column offers a report from the 2018 annual meeting of the Ex Libris Users of North America (ELUNA), as well as coverage of sessions from the annual meeting of the Northern Ohio Technical Services Librarians (NOTSL). A handful of reports were also collected from courses offered at the FORCE11 Scholarly Communications Institute. Topics covered include features within ExLibris’s Alma library that support print serials operations, current and future developments in serials librarianship, and critiques about open peer review.