Library Management and Technical Services

The role of technical services operations in the collection evaluation process is multifaceted and significant. The role of technical service librarians to the process, however, is not necessarily clear or universally recognized, resulting in conditions that are becoming increasingly counterproductive to efficient and effective efforts to evaluate the relative quantity and quality of a library's holdings in subject areas, formats and so on to determine future needs of the institution. While public service librarians are currently being drawn into planning operations for online catalogs-formerly the exclusive territory of technical service staff members-no comparable trend involving technical servants in collection evaluation or development programs appears to be in progress. Collection evaluation, where it is explicitly defined and practiced, is usually part of a larger system of collection development or management under the public service or reference unit, composed of specialists in the disciplines or media being examined. Even where collection development/management officers are part of a technical service unit, their relation to the rest of its staff may only be to provide a conduit for transmitting selections for purchase to the acquisition department. Technical services functions in academic libraries have evolved in response to fiscal pressures and advances in technology.

This book investigates how technical services in university libraries are adapting to support the changing roles of academic libraries. The book explores the role of technical services functions and organizational structure as forces in the library change process. Academic libraries continually confront challenges that are primarily driven by technological innovation and budget constraints. Library administrators try to find ways to meet these challenges by transforming and streamlining workflows and prioritizing objectives through their strategic planning processes and other mechanisms. Academic libraries 'strategic priorities subsequently impact every other area within the libraries, and technical services is no exception. The labor intensive processes prevalent in technical services have been negatively impacted by ongoing reductions in staffing and decreasing budgets. This phenomenon has resulted in various challenges and opportunities in technical services. There are great opportunities for current technical services operations to improve inefficient and antiquated workflows, to renew and develop proper technology skills among staff, and to transform the structure of technical services to effectively deploy staff to manage the transformation of its functions through reorganization.