Whether because of budget and staffing concerns or issues with productivity and output, technical services teams have come into being in many organizations. In Teams in Library Technical Services, editors Rosann Bazirjian and Rebecca Mugridge present research and case studies demonstrating what these reasons are and how the use of teams has been and should be applied to libraries. Everything from describing the various types of teams and how to manage them--especially in academic libraries--to exploring recurring themes on the relationships between professional and support staff, the changing roles of librarians, and how managers and teams address issues such as performance evaluation, rewards and recognition, hiring, workload and workflow, and process improvements is covered. Managers and other librarians who must understand the evolution of teams in library technical services units, the application of team theory in libraries, and the practical assessment of team organizational structure will be greatly served by this work.

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.

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.

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.

In recent years, automation has played a vital role in library systems that handle tasks of acquisition, cataloging, serials, and circulation. The automation of these operations has, in turn, minimized the demand for human interaction. Robots in Academic Libraries: Advancements in Library Automation provides an overview on the current state of library automation, addresses the need for changing personnel to accommodate these changes, and assesses the future for academic libraries as a whole. This book is essential for library leaders, technology experts, and library vendors interested in the future of library automation and its impact on the decline of human interaction in libraries.

Used in library schools worldwide, this standard text provides students with a thorough understanding of technical services. Updated and expanded, the eighth edition further emphasizes the rapidly changing environment in which technical services are conducted. The book covers all aspects of the field—from acquisitions to managing the cataloging department—with five new chapters. "Technical Services Issues" includes material related to physical space needs; "E-resources Issues" examines how the growth of e-materials impact technical services work; "Copy Cataloging" reflects the ever increasing need to be more efficient and also to save limited funds for technical services activities; "Overview and Decisions" addresses the issue of why and how the local OPAC has become a gateway to the universe of knowledge; and "Processing Materials" covers the activities involved in making sure items that go into a library's collection are properly identified as belonging to the library and where the item is physically located in the collection. All other chapters have been extensively rewritten and updated to reflect 2010 technical service functions and activities. Complete with helpful illustrations, statistics, and study guide questions, this text is a must for library and information science students!

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?