Call for Book Chapter Proposals: Technical Services: Adapting to the Changing Environment | ALA Connect

"We all know libraries are in the midst of flux and change concerning the role of Technical Services. However, the situation is even more serious than that. There are questions about Technical Services and its very viability in today’s library. Technical Service librarians are constantly being challenged with the question of relevancy and their role within the library. It seems even those in our own libraries don’t understand what we do and the contribution we make to building and curating our collections. The threats are real however and we all have stories of being relocated out of the library, traditional print work decreasing because of the switch to electronic resources, budgetary constraints, work outsourced to the vendor or consortium or elsewhere, etc. Technical Service departments are reinventing themselves to respond to these challenges and threats as we speak and embracing innovative  opportunities to help our libraries advance into the 21st century. This book will provide stories and examples that highlight the reality (outsourcing, relocating off-site, downsizing collections) as well as the exciting new opportunities to embrace (institutional repositories, more focus on special collections, metadata issues, retraining and managing personnel, open access resources, distance education, etc.)."