Innovative Redesign and Reorganization of Library Technical Services

In the changing modern-day library, the area of technical services has undergone radical redesign and reorganization not just once, but many times in the last thirty years. Shrinking budgets, new electronic formats, the advent of the Internet, and technological innovations have drastically changed the face of library technical services departments and presented new challenges, such as finding and hiring qualified catalogers; dealing with the exponentially expanding range of print and electronic formats; reorganizing workflows due to staff reductions; and trying to find answers for organizing and describing information in its many manifestations. The first part of this book explores the future of technical services through surveys, research essays, and insightful opinion pieces. The second part focuses on redesign and reorganization efforts through a number of fascinating case studies. The majority of these case studies come from academic library technical services departments, highlighting efforts to meet and deal with challenges through a myriad of options. For anyone involved in the day-to-day supervision, management, and future of a library technical services department, this book will provide food for thought, as well as practical lessons.

BRADFORD LEE EDEN is Head of Web and Digitization Services for the University Libraries at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Previous positions include Head of Bibligraphic and Metadata Services at UNLV, and Coordinator of Technical Services for the North Harris Montgomery Community College District in Houston, Texas. He has a Masters and Ph.D. in Medieval Musicology, and publishes in this area, and is also a well-known J.R.R. Tolkien scholar. He publishes extensively on the topic of metadata, recently producing Metadata and Its Applications in the Library Technology Reports series (Sept/Oct 2002). He sits on the editorial boards of journals in the area of librarianship, medieval history, and music, and was recently appointed Associate Editor of Library Hi Tech.