Poster Sessions
Avoiding Obsolescence: A Professional Development Plan for Print Serials Staffers
Megan Curran, University of Southern California Norris Medical Library
Academic libraries continue to slash print serials subscriptions every year, leaving technical services staffers with print serials as their main responsibility feeling uneasy about their future. This poster serves as an illustrative case study for how the University of Southern California's Norris Medical Library has been dealing with this problem, while simultaneously encouraging professional growth in its four-person technical services staff. The print serials staffer has been taking free professional development classes to improve his computer skills outside of his daily purview. He is also being trained to expand on his journals bindery skills in order to begin managing the softcover book-binding processes. As the e-journals staff members get heavier and heavier workloads, the print serials staffer takes on some of their functions to ease their burden and spread the work around equitably. Free webinars in other technical services functions also serve as cross-training learning opportunities for the print serials staffer, who is currently finishing his bachelor's degree and plans to go to library school eventually. This poster shows how the changes in the size of Norris's print serials collection coincide with the changing role of the print serials staffer, and outlines the multi-year professional development plan for that staffer to ensure growth and opportunity for both the staffer and the department as a whole. The road map could be useful to other technical services departments facing similar workload challenges in the face of technical change.
The Be-All and End-All! Using EndNote to Add Table of Contents Notes to Serial Analytic Records
Becky Culbertson, University of California, San Diego
The EndNote citation software can be adapted to easily insert lengthy tables of contents from electronic records into bibliographic records in the Online Computer Library Center's (OCLC's) WorldCat database in a completely “cataloging compliant” automated fashion.
An Oasis in Tough Times: Shared Decision Making
Michaelyn Haslam and Xiaoyin Zhang, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries
University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries established a Serials Review Group (SRG) to make decisions collaboratively regarding serial purchases and cancellations. The SRG represents the major players in serials management, including the Head of Collection Development, three subject liaisons, the Electronic Serials Librarian, and a library technician. It uses data collated by Collection Development to evaluate, rank, and make purchase and retention decisions. The data consist of cost, use statistics, feedback from academic faculty, and justification from subject liaisons. A serials review group has proven to be an advantage in tough times with dwindling budgets and an uncertain future. Shared decision making supports a broader view of the collection and mediates individual interests.
Pouring Your Documents into Your Serials Bowl
Kathryn Johns-Masten, State University of New York at Oswego
Availability of electronic government documents has increased dramatically. The drive to catalog more of these materials has been a goal of our library for several years. The retirement of the Government Documents Clerk and the need to leave the position unfilled led the Serials/Cataloging Department to take on this task. This poster session describes the process of incorporating government documents into the serials workflow, which is the current practice in many large libraries. Specifically covered are the issues of department collaboration, getting staff on board, adding electronic versus print records, and the assessment process. Everyone will benefit from this review of incorporating new materials into existing workflows.
Keeping it Real and Relevant in the Periodicals Department
Edward Keane, Long Island University
Changing journal formats by signing onto multiple e-journal package subscriptions necessitated a predictable degree of retraining and redirected workflow in the Long Island University Periodicals Department. Staff members were initially jarred by the changes, but ultimately those changes reinforced an understanding of the “big picture” in contemporary academic library user services. This, coupled with learning new technologies and taking part in peer training, fostered an atmosphere of collective pride, encouraging the department to continue promoting its relevance to the library. The periodicals librarian describes his efforts to institute bimonthly training sessions in the library's instruction labs and to use the respective strengths and weakness of each staff member as the basis of ongoing peer-to-peer training. Also covered is how cross-training staff can keep the department safe from draconian budget cuts in a bumpy economy.