The Subject Liaison's Survival Guide to Technical Services

by Krista Schmidt, Tim Carstens

Overview

Armed with this guide’s targeted information, subject liaisons will be able to better position themselves to serve both instructors and the library effectively.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780838915332
Publisher:	American Library Association
Publication date:	10/31/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	95
File size:	869 KB

About the Author

Krista Schmidt has worked in libraries for 15 years and was the first dedicated subject liaison hired by Hunter Library at Western Carolina University (WCU). She currently serves as the STEM liaison and maps librarian at WCU and has spent six years on the university library’s collections advisory committee. She was named a 2013 Mover & Shaker by Library Journal.

Tim Carstens was a monographic cataloger at North Carolina State University from 1984 until 1990, when he began working for Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. He has served as head of the Cataloging and Acquisitions Unit and the Content Organization and Management Department, and his responsibilities have included collection development, acquisitions, cataloging and metadata, serials, and electronic resources. He was appointed associate dean of Library Services at Hunter Library in 2014 before retiring in 2016.

Table of Contents

The Subject Liason’s Survival Guide to Technical Services Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Collection Development Structure Communication Policy Data and Information 2. Budgets and Budgeting Sources of Funds Decision Making Allocating Funds within the Library Communication and Timing 3. Submitting Orders Organizational Structure Information and Processes Timing is Everything 4. Acquisitions Ordering Record Keeping and Communication Ordering Processes Timing is Everything (Again) 5. Receiving and Processing Books, Media, and Other Non-Serial Items Collection Designation Databases and E-journals 6. Cataloging Copy and Original Cataloging Enhancing Cataloging Records Individual Record Editing Batch Editing Workflow Edits Enhancing the Catalog Itself 7. Collection Maintenance Weeding Initiation and Planning Decision Making Withdrawal Processes Location Changes Format Updates Glossary Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

05/15/2017
Schmidt and Carstens have created an informative guide for subject liaisons, aimed mainly at librarians in larger academic and research libraries. Schmidt has many years of experience as a subject liaison at Western Carolina University while Carstens is a retired librarian with more than 30 years of experience in technical services. This manual covers the basics of profitable interaction with the various aspects of technical services, including collection development, budgeting, ordering, receiving, invoicing, processing, cataloging, and collection maintenance. As every library has individual variation in its procedures, each chapter describes the functions of a technical service area in general terms and also contains a lengthy list of "questions you should be asking" to guide ongoing communication. Common queries from new subject liaisons are answered concisely but thoroughly (e.g., "Why don't you just order everything from Amazon?"). There is also advice about accommodating special requests within collection development, which will be especially beneficial to novice liaisons. VERDICT Recommended for academic and research libraries.—Margaret Sylvia, St. Mary's Univ. Lib., San Antonio

Library Journal