Rethinking Library Technical Services

Reviews / Votes

The roller coaster of technology-driven change continues to challenge 21st-century librarians. Weber provides an overview of technical services and the impact electronic resources are having on this aspect of librarianship. Contributors are drawn from academic and public libraries to discuss technical services' contributions to the profession and suggest ways in which the often behind-the-scenes staff may continue to lead the way in developing user-friendly access to a growing variety of digital resources. Collaboration, refocusing, advocacy, and ongoing professional development are recurring themes for coping with profound transitions currently underway in resource management and data curation. Interviews of six practitioners address career advice, speculation about the Resource Description and Access (RDA) standard, and skills needed for technical services workers. This collection provides thoughtful, in-depth analyses of technical services, going beyond the basics provided by John Sandstrom's and Liz Miller's Fundamentals of Technical Services. While the climate of perpetual change may sometimes seem daunting, these experts attest to the rewards of engagement in rising to the challenge. VERDICT Recommended for administrators, technical services staff, and information technology faculty. * Library Journal * Rethinking Library Technical Servicesis perfect for an analytical approach to technical services and would work well as a resource for an analysis or as the assigned text in a technical services course. * VOYA * While each chapter centers on a different topic relating to technical services, they are all worth a read, and I would recommend this book to any technical services librarians whose positions are focused on a specific skill but who are looking to step outside of that skill. I also recommend the book to library directors interested in gaining a better understanding of technical services or who want to reconfigure the department to better fit the library's overall mission. . . .[T]he book offers good examples of what libraries have done with their technical services departments, conveys the truth of the statement 'that librarians [today], technical services librarians in particular, are standing on shifting sands,' and emphasizes that following old standards can be detrimental to the library as a whole. * Law Library Journal * The authors are experienced librarians with a wide variety of specialties. The collection is a largely successful discussion of current and future trends, which concludes with interviews with working professionals discussing the skills necessary for technical services work in the future. . . .In addition to being a thorough review of the state of technical functions in academic libraries, the essays provide a good description of what these jobs will be like for library professionals and paraprofessionals. * Technical Services Quarterly * Weber's Rethinking Library Technical Services is thoughtful andfocused on the big picture, furnishingcontext and background that makefor good understanding of its subject.... If you are reading to know where technical services is now andmight be headed, Weber's book is... thorough....[This book] merit[s] a serious reader's attention. * Technicalities * Rethinking Library Technical Services offers positive outlooks originating from the technical services profession itself. It provides an extensive and detailed picture of the current states of affairs and complex functions found in the many aspects of current technical services departments, but best of all it provides positive suggestions, and hopeful advocacy for the profession rather than dismal forecasts of doom, or continuing the folly of policies that blindly propose cutbacks and downsizing.... [T]his book is useful for librarians in all types of libraries, and especially for students in library and information science considering a career in technical services. * Library Resources & Technical Services (LRTS) *