Library Technical Services Research Articles

“Serials at Warp Speed: Navigating Transitions,” the 2007 North Carolina Serials Conference

Reports on four major serials conferences, the 2007 North Carolina Serials Conference, the 2007 meeting of the Ohio Valley Group of Technical Services Librarians, the Canadian Library Association’s 2007 Pre-Conference, and the 2007 North American Serials Interest Group Conference.

A Study on Analysis and Suggestions of Library Technical Services Outsourcing

A Study on Analysis and Suggestions of Library Technical Services Outsourcing

Association for Library Collections & Technical Services Annual Report 2006–2007

Association for Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) celebrated its first fifty years during 2006-2007. This celebration took the form of looking back, assessing where we are today as an association and as a profession, and considering where we would like to see our profession in the years to come. This year was punctuated by great tumult in the collections and technical services fields, and ALCTS focused much of its energies on directive change and professional advocacy. In doing so, the most tangible achievements came in the areas of education, dialog and collaboration, publication, standards creation, and organizational renewal. Fiftieth Anniversary Events ALCTS celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of both the association as well as its flagship scholarly publication, Resources & Technical Services (LRTS). anniversary theme has been Commemorating the Past, Celebrating the Present, Creating the Future. An exciting array of events was planned by the ALCTS Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration Committee, ably led by 2002-2003 ALCTS president Olivia M. A. Madison. following is a synopsis of a few of the anniversary events. Definitely Digital: An Exploration of the Future of Knowledge on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Association for Collections & Technical Services This symposium, held January 19, 2007, in Seattle, Washington, in conjunction with the American Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting, examined significant changes in scholarly communication, library services, collections, and staffing created by the digital environment. symposium speakers discussed scholarship in the digital age, new communication models, the future of cooperative technical services and enabling technologies, and the training and education of staff working with digital collections. Statements, intentionally controversial and intended to evoke discussion from the panelists and stimulate audience participation, are the subject of Digiblog, ALCTS' first Web log. speakers and topics at the symposium were: * Keynote speaker: James Hilton (University of Virginia): Scholarship in the Digital Age: Opportunities and Challenges; * Lorcan Dempsey (OCLC): Moving to the Network Level: Networks Change Structures; * Meg Bellinger (Yale University): Library Collections and Technical Services in the Digital Age: Perspectives and Predictions for the Profession at the Half-Century Mark; * Greg Tananbaum (author and consultant): Scholarly Communication 2.Oh: New Models of Publishing and Services; and * Brian Schottlaender (University of California-San Diego), Tom Clareson (PALINET), David Nuzzo (SUNY-Buffalo Library), Oliver Pesch (EBSCO Information Services), and Robert Wolven (Columbia University Libraries). Interactive Futures: A National Conference on the Transformation of Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS National Conference, June 20-21, 2007, Washington, D.C.) This day-and-a-half-long conference engaged attendees in a thought-provoking, open, and participatory exchange on the transformation of our work and the profession. Presenters and attendees collaborated to explore the challenges we face and to develop a vision of the future roles of collections and technical services librarians. Participants were enriched and energized by this experience. After the three plenary session speakers, attendees had an opportunity to discuss how the issues and insights the speakers offered will affect the future of technical services. These sessions, led by an outstanding group of facilitators, provided a forum to explore the challenges we face and to develop a vision of the future roles of collections and technical services librarians. plenary session speakers and topics were: * Richard Lanham: The Two Markets: Libraries in an Attention Economy; * David Lankes: Collecting Conversations in a Massive Scale World; * Dianne van der Reyden: Preservation at the of Congress; and * Stephen Abram: Social Libraries: Librarian 2. …

Are Technical Services Topics Underrepresented in the Contributed Papers at the ACRL National Conferences?

SUMMARY This study tests the hypothesis that the contributed papers at the 12 ACRL national conferences do not cover topics of interest to technical services librarians in proportion to their membership in ACRL. The analysis showed that 14.66% of contributed papers dealt with subjects that were part of the charge of ALCTS, the technical services division in ALA, and its five sections. This percentage dropped to 7.52% with the removal of collection development papers that are also of high interest to many public services librarians. Current overlap statistics indicate that 18.83% of ACRL members also belong to ALCTS–an indication of potential ACRL member interest in technical services topics. An unexpected discovery was that the contributed papers became much more holistic with the arrival of the Internet and electronic resources in academic libraries and, starting with the 1999 Detroit national conference, were much more difficult to categorize into specialized niches. The author speculates that the attendance at the national conferences by a high proportion of librarians from small to mid-size academic libraries discourages papers on technical services topics since technical services librarians are more likely to work in large ARL libraries.

Technical Services and Tenure: Impediments and Strategies

SUMMARY Although the appropriateness of faculty status for technical services librarians serving in academic libraries is often debated, these librarians usually share the same personnel status as other librarians in the same institution. The success of technical services librarians in achieving tenure is explored, along with perceptions about the relative ease with which they may attain it. Possible impediments to success are identified, with special focus on the portrayal and evaluation of the practice of librarianship, as distinct from scholarly or service pursuits. Strategies for countering these impediments are suggested.

Effect of Multiculturalism and Automation on Public Library Collection Development and Technical Services

SUMMARY The Internet, as well as the proliferation of online resources available for purchase, has significantly changed collection management from selection to acquisitions to cataloging and processing. The nature of this work has become much more complex as our communities have become more culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse, as the number of information delivery mechanisms has increased, and as library consumers' expectations for speed of receipt of information have accelerated.

Ohio Valley Group of Technical Services Librarians: A History

The Ohio Valley Group of Technical Services Librarians (OVGTSL), a member of the American Library Association’s Council of Regional Groups, became a formal organization in 1924 and continues to meet to this day. This article provides a history of this group, and, in doing so, traces trends and issues in library technical services for cataloging, acquisitions, serials, and many other topics of interest to librarians for more than eight decades.

Ohio Valley Group of Technical Services Librarians: A History

The Ohio Valley Group of Technical Services Librarians (OVGTSL), a member of the American Library Association’s Council of Regional Groups, became a formal organization in 1924 and continues to meet to this day. This article provides a history of this group, and, in doing so, traces trends and issues in library technical services for cataloging, acquisitions, serials, and many other topics of interest to librarians for more than eight decades.

Libraries in transition to a marketing orientation: are librarians' attitudes a barrier?

Abstract This study examines librarians' attitudes toward the marketing of library services, as libraries continue their transition to a marketing orientation. Although prior studies had observed misunderstandings and hostility to marketing among librarians, most previous discussions of this topic were either speculative or based on extremely small samples. In order to provide more evidence in this matter, a large‐scale survey of members of the New Jersey Library Association (NJLA) was conducted. A ‘Pro Marketing’ scale was introduced and used to segment participants with respect to their attitudes. The findings indicate that most respondents expressed relatively positive attitudes toward marketing, but that more positive attitudes were expressed by public librarians than school or college/university librarians, and by administrators as opposed to reference and technical services librarians. Illustrative respondent comments and implications for library management are included. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Work Analysis in Library Technical Services

ABSTRACT This article summarizes a workflow task analysis of technical services functions conducted at Southern Illinois University Carbon-dale's Morris Library during the 2005–2006 academic year. During the workflow analysis, procedures were identified that could be modified or eliminated, and awareness was raised about the role of the various sections. The task analysis documented current practices, revealed differences in the way faculty and civil-service staff members spent their time, and informed changes to staff work assignments.

Reports of Conferences, Institutes, and Seminars: Crossroads to the Future

Reports cover the 2006 Ohio Valley Group of Technical Services Librarians Conference and the 2006 North American Serials Interest Group Conference.

The role of free Internet resources for library technical services and reference in a Hungarian LIS continuing education course

After providing background to CPE of librarians in Hungary, this article outlines the content of a course that seeks to make Hungarian librarians familiar with free Internet resources that are usable for library technical services and reference. One of the most important topics covered in the course is the question of finding information on the World Wide Web. The importance of virtual reference and details about Libinfo, the major Hungarian virtual reference desk service are discussed. The author also gives details about some of the Hungarian and international resources used for the course.

Utilizing Z39.50 to Obtain Bibliographic Copy

This paper looks at one approach to controlling costs when seeking cataloging copy. A small task group in the University of Minnesota Libraries Technical Services Department conducted a study to devise the most cost-effective strategy for searching for and importing bibliographic copy, by compiling costs and benefits of importing records from the OCLC Online Computer Library Center database, the Research Libraries Group Union Catalog (RLIN), and the Library of Congress (LC) catalog. Results of the study indicated that, although the LC database is smaller than the other two utilities, a sufficient portion of needed records were available from LC to more than offset the cost of re-searching in the other databases for records not found. In addition, due to differences in pricing structure, searching RLIN second was found to be more cost effective than going next to OCLC, even though a slightly larger proportion of items were found in OCLC than RLIN. This study may prove useful either as a research method or in terms of its findings for other libraries wishing to compare sources of cataloging copy.

Electronic Journals and University Libraries Technical Services

Electronic Journals and University Libraries Technical Services

Some Thoughts on the Meaning of Open Access for University Library Technical Services

Many studies of the Open Access (OA) movement analyze the problems of cost, author, and publisher reactions to OA, or the fluidity of the movement. Very few, however, investigate how library technical services have already been impacted by OA. How do collection development librarians identify and select material in these models? How do acquisitions librarians license or otherwise gain access to the materials? How are these materials to be maintained and preserved? The author surveys how OA in its various forms impacts the primary functions of technical services in academic libraries.

The last few American Indian treaties—An extension of the Charles J. KapplerIndian Affairs

AbstractIn a previous discussion [Bernholz, C.D., & Holcombe, S.L. (2005). The Charles J. Kappler Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties Internet Site at the Oklahoma State University [The url for this resource is http://www.digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/]. Library Collections, Acquisitions, and Technical Services; 29, 82–89. An electronic collation of documents created by American Indian tribes and the federal government was presented as an effective collection development resource. That digital work provides the final text of 366 of the 375 American Indian treaties recognized by the United States Department of State.This research note describes an electronic suite that supplies access to the texts of the remaining nine treaties, so that its use – in combination with the Oklahoma State University materials – will furnish an avenue to all of these historical instruments. Research examples, for this document set and in comparison to the Kappler collation, are provided.

Some Thoughts on the Meaning of Open Access for University Library Technical Services

Many studies of the Open Access (OA) movement analyze the problems of cost, author, and publisher reactions to OA, or the fluidity of the movement. Very few, however, investigate how library technical services have already been impacted by OA. How do collection development librarians identify and select material in these models? How do acquisitions librarians license or otherwise gain access to the materials? How are these materials to be maintained and preserved? The author surveys how OA in its various forms impacts the primary functions of technical services in academic libraries.

What Do They Want?: A Study of Changing Employer Expectations of Information Professionals

ABSTRACTThis paper reports the findings of an exploratory study of position vacant announcements appropriate for library and information studies (LIS) graduates appearing in the Sydney Morning Herald over a four week period in each of the following years: 2004, 1994, 1984 and 1974. The period studied witnessed change-demanding developments in information technologies as well as changes in workplace conditions and client expectations. The study collected data on the demands of employers as expressed through job advertisements that included data on work status (full-time, part-time, contract, casual), qualifications and the experience required of the information professional during the periods selected. To investigate similarities and differences between periods a content analysis and co-word analysis of the job advertisements was undertaken. The advertisements indicated a movement from simple advertisements in 1974 inviting applications for reference or technical services librarians, to complex and special...

Online work tools: A look at 20 academic libraries technical services Web pages

The 21st century technical services librarian has access to a plethora of electronic and online work tools from which to choose to complete daily tasks. An assessment of the Western Kentucky University Libraries (WKUL) 19 benchmark institutions shows a great disparity of online work tools made available through university libraries technical services departmental Web sites. Four areas (technical services, cataloging, serials, and acquisitions) are discussed. Outcomes indicate that (1) few of these institutions list online work tools and (2) of those that do, there is very little overlap. This paper investigates this phenomenon of inconsistent technical services online work tools.

Online work tools: A look at 20 academic libraries technical services Web pages

Online work tools: A look at 20 academic libraries technical services Web pages