Presentation Transcript

1. What Technical Services?How to Manage and Adapt to BIG ChangeALCTS Role of the Professional Librarian in Technical Services IG ALA Annual, June 29, 2013Roy A. Ziegler – Associate Dean for Collections & AccessRuth S. Ziegler – Authorities/Catalog Management Librarian Florida State University Libraries
2. FSU Snapshot Florida State University in located in Tallahassee, FL Comprehensive public university established in 1851 42,000 students (32K undergrad, 10K graduate, 2.4K faculty) Research Intensive Very High (Carnegie Class), ARL member All libraries: 3M physical volumes, 72K e-journals, 1M e-books, 700+ databases University Libraries (excluding Information, Law, Medical, Music) 6 buildings in Tallahassee (3 for remote storage) Technical Services 4 blocks from main campus for the last 19 years Surrounded by a changing neighborhood with considerable non-university construction
3. Change is all around us To the west College Town is under construction
4. Change is all around us To the east is Catalyst, a luxury apartment complex opening this fall
5. Change is all around us
6. Change is all around us In the middle is the Technical Services building
7. Change within 711 West Madison
8. Library Organization
9. Why all the downsizing? Format Migration (print to electronic) Reduction in the amount of physical books, journals, newspapers, indexes/abstracts, thesis/dissertations coming into the library Fewer people needed to check-in, physically process and bind Patron/Demand Driven Acquisitions of e-books instead of print approval plan and firm-orders Greater need in public services to help patrons navigate the online collections
10. Why all the downsizing? 2. Productivity Tools and Efficiencies Library Management Systems have gotten better EDI implemented for orders and invoicing Multi-institutional and Consortial Collection Development (PDA and purchased collections) Deposit accounts, not title-by-title payment process Greater reliance on distributed collections (RAPID for articles, ILL and U-borrow for books) Ceased journal check-in except for art and design materials
11. Why all the downsizing? Productivity Tools and Efficiencies (cont.) Global change functions in LMS Streamlining cataloging procedures Macro Express program used in Aleph for generating fields with greater accuracy and speed. Text strings created in OCLC Everyone trained to use ClassWeb and Cataloger’s Desktop ETD Working Group
12. Why all the downsizing? 3. Outsourcing Accepting vendor supplied records for domestic and foreign books Physical books arrive Shelf Ready Authority control reports are no longer done by Authorities staff. Looking toward vendor outsourcing support from the state legislature.
13. Why all the downsizing? 4. Impact of Budget cuts 35 library-wide positions eliminated Internal reorganization within units and departments Reassign personnel to other divisions that have lost positions Cannibalize positions by increasing salary rate on existing lines Converting staff positions to new faculty lines
14. Why eliminate the Division? Traditional technical services work has diminished Continued need for personnel in more critical areas Institutional interests have higher priority Philosophical shift to emphasize unique cataloging/description of rare books, archives and digital collections, less time spent on cataloging common materials
15. Morale of impacted personnel Negatives: In 2012-2013 Shared Bib implementation, RDA, a major withdrawal project and reorganization all together No single point of advocacy before Senior Leadership More work responsibilities Preference for electronic resources but still ordering print (Art and Humanities titles) Being relocated or split from coworkers in the Technical Services Building
16. Morale of impacted personnel Positives: People are enthusiastic about broadening their knowledge base, skills and experience Opportunities for collaboration and inclusion More chance to move around within the organization Can make contributions that are relevant to what the organization needs most to respond to the university’s needs today
17. The Transition Good planning, transparency with no surprises Good Communication Meetings at Division, Department, Unit and Individual level Training Departments must be up-to-date with cataloging and metadata standards Review positions – vacancies and retirements Matching individual’s skill sets to new duties
18. BIG Change Integration of Tech Services into other divisions resets the library organization’s priorities for the future We realize that we can’t do it all so we are making appropriate choices for our situation We are using many tools to respond to the changing expectations of our patrons The organization is right-sized so we can provide the most important resources and services to our university community
19. What Technical Services? For now we are still located at 711 West Madison Street
20. What Technical Services? Questions? Roy A. Ziegler rziegler@fsu.edu Ruth S. Ziegler rsziegler@fsu.edu