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.

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.

By showcasing the work of technical services, and the ground-breaking changes they have encountered, this edited collection provides readers with an opportunity to re-assess the opportunities and challenges for library administration, and to understand how libraries should be managed in the future.

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.

Textbook, library science, technical services - includes chapters on library automation, library networks, acquisitions, accounting, cataloguing incl. Of audiovisual aids and periodicals, indexing, information retrieval, etc. Bibliography, glossary, illustrations, photographs.

This book follows the author's successful Innovative Redesigns and Reorganizations of Library Technical Services, with even more case studies and surveys. As before, it focuses on ways that technical services departments in libraries are meeting the challenges of new formats, new work duties, and changing jobs in the wake of less money and a decreasing job force. Bradford Eden's international cast of contributors represent the best in practice; and topics cover such essentials as the impact of computers and technology on workflow enhancement (particularly Web 2.0), changing staff roles, and communications challenges. All in all, a plethora of new ideas for tech services heads and staff in libraries and larger organizational institutions determined to maintain the relevance of their department.