Trends in Technical Service

Tenopir, C. (2009, March). Visualize the Perfect Search. Library Journal, 134(4), 22-22. Retrieved April 13, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.

Breeding, M. (2009, March). Library Automation in a Difficult Economy. Computers in Libraries, 29(3), 22-24. Retrieved April 13, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.

The rising trends in technical service in libraries are varied and to be quite honest sometimes really hard to understand. There are a lot of things that technical service librarians do that even regular librarians just shake their heads in amazement. For instance, some of the complex things that have to be done for serials make my head spin. Thankfully, sometimes the technical service librarians discuss things that are not really hard to understand. The topic I have chosen to discuss dealing with technical services is the aim of libraries to catch up to Google, and the cost effective ways to do it.

Tenopir’s article was my starting off point. She talked about the new ILS interface called Summon. It debuted at the ALA Midwinter conference. The goal of Summon is to compile and present a library’s materials in a similar way to Google. Google relies on the complex algorithm and the literally billions of pages of information to somewhat reliably return accurate information to users entering queries. Summon will attempt to relevance rank whole libraries, using content, machine and human feedback, number of times an article has been cited, impact factor and peer review status of the original journal, and (in the case of magazines and newspapers) currency (Tenopir 2009, p 22). Summon is still in the testing stage at a few universities in the United States. Tenopir also voices interest in a new type of “visual searching” wherein users can search visually instead of by content. The best part is that the interface is guided by the content. The International Children’s Digital Library allows filters for happy book and sad books, color of cover, length, and type of stories. The moral of the story is that libraries creating technical services that emulate and expand upon some of the features of popular and (heaven forbid) easy search engines littering the internet these days.

Breeding’s article was really the clincher for my investigation into trends in library technical service. In his article, he overviewed some of the trends he has noticed in technical services, but more importantly, he discusses the cost of these services and their impact on libraries. This is an important factor in all libraries but especially now, with a down economy and everyone tightening their belts. One conflict Breeding noted that often arises is the deep discount that vendors will offer libraries that currently use one of their legacy products. This has put libraries in a bind. More often than not, the library will go with the cheaper upgrade, even if the service is not the absolute best (Breeding 2009, p. 23). This means that systems like Summon might not be available to every Tom, Dick and Joe library across the country. However, Breeding points to a number of ways to bring innovative ILSs into small libraries without buying a server farm and hiring the graduating class of MIT to run the system. One way, that I myself have seen successfully managed, is to pool resources with other libraries in order to make a large investment that all can share. The Nebraska Independent College Library Consortium (NICLC) is an ILS and OPAC system that is shared by eight colleges across Nebraska. This allows eight small libraries to pool their academic resources into one pool and purchase a more powerful ILS than could be purchased alone. A second way to bring small libraries big technical service is to utilize something called Software as a Service (SaaS). This mostly subscription based access gives small libraries the access to ILSs and other technical services, but through inexpensive software instead of buying the server farm and putting it in the library basement.

A final thought from Breeding pointed out that in times of recession, libraries and technology firms and most any business turn toward innovation over tried and true practices (2009, p. 24). This innovation could lead to cheaper, better put together programs, services, and technology. Perhaps we might be seeing a cheaper, open source version of a Summon like ILS on the market. Or perhaps we’ll see something even more phenomenal and equally inexpensive. The best part is, we’ll never know until it’s too late and we have something new.