[Metadatalibrarians] ALCTS-Creative Ideas in Technical Services Interest Group at ALA Midwinter 2018

[Timothy Ryan Mendenhall]

Join ALCTS Creative Ideas in Technical Services Interest Group for several
exciting discussions at ALA Midwinter 2018!



*Location: *Colorado Convention Center, Room 201

*Date and time: *Saturday, February 10th - 4:30-5:30 pm

*Format: *Round-table discussions lead by multiple facilitators. Choose the
one that interests you most. All tables will summarize their discussions
and report back to the larger group at the end of the session.  We are also
looking for volunteer note-takers for each of these - please e-mail
either  Whitney
Buccicone (bucciw at uw.edu) and Timothy Ryan Mendenhall (
tmendenhall at fordham.edu) if interested.



*Round-table Discussion Topics:*



*Topic*: Transforming library metadata into linked data – a new future for
technical services

*Presenter*: Lihong Zhu, Washington State University

*Summary*: The rise of linked data has sparked discussion, exploration, and
development around the intersection of linked data and technical services.
“Right now, the information found in both library catalogs and on the web
is generally human-readable and understandable, but not optimized for
computer understanding. Text is put up on the web without any kind of
markup to give it structural and semantic meaning. This prevents the
automatic linking of one informational bit to another. Fixing that issue is
the focus of the Semantic Web in general and linked data in particular.”
(Hastings, R. (2015). Linked data in libraries: Status and future
direction. Computers in Libraries., 35, 12.)



*Topic*: Revitalizing the Group Dynamic – Conversations Across Departments
and Institutions

*Presenters*: Susanne Markgren (Manhattan College) and Maureen Clements
(Mercy College)

*Summary*: This roundtable discussion will address the benefits and
challenges of building and sustaining relationships with tech services
colleagues in other institutions as well as with colleagues in other
departments. We will discuss the importance of harnessing a “stronger
together” mantra to support and learn from one another, whether we work in
a large department or in a department of one. In this discussion, we want
to explore how to create and sustain successful relationships outside our
own institutions and departments – through consortia, associations,
discussion groups, committees, teams – and how we can create new channels
of communication (both in-person and online) in order to share expertise,
ideas, and innovations with like-minded librarians and staff, and to keep
the conversations flowing.



*Topic*: Reimagining technical services for the 21st century library

*Presenter*: Sofia Slutskaya, Georgia Tech Library

*Summary*: The library of the 21st century is service-focused and adaptable
to the changing expectations of users. Libraries are retooling their
organizational structure, including their traditional technical services
functions. The Georgia Tech library has transformed its technical services
department, now called Infrastructure, in order to absorb many other
“behind the scenes” functions such as patron management, archival
collections processing, adding documents to the digital repository, etc.
This organizational change brings up two significant questions: how to
redesign existing workflows to incorporate new functions, and how to train
staff to preform new functions. Georgia Tech’s approach is to use a supply
chain methodology, with tasks assigned according to needs and staff
availability, and with everybody in the department being trained to perform
every task. This multi-year endeavor has involved defining basic and
advanced tasks and skills required for infrastructure staff, mapping
workflows and looking for efficiencies, creating standard work
documentation and posting it centrally, and engaging in an intense training
and on-the-job practice effort.



*Topic*: Mentorship as Collaboration for Technical Services Librarians

*Presenter*: Laura Evans, Binghamton University

*Summary*: Purposeful mentoring in libraries constitutes an important
factor in developing library staff roles and fostering future leaders in
the field. More traditional versions of formal and informal mentoring
programs are now being augmented with newer types of mentoring such as peer
and virtual approaches gaining in popularity. How do mentoring programs
facilitate collaboration and relationship-building for technical services
librarians? Both library and association-based mentoring programs aim to
build relationships between librarians, so let’s discuss whether and how
librarians in technical services areas can benefit in terms of
cross-departmental and cross-institutional collaboration. The discussion
will focus on whether the mentor/mentee relationship can be successful in
breaking down silos and how to identify possible collaborative interests.



*Topic*: Supporting technical services staff at all levels

*Presenter*: Sarah Hovde, Folger Shakespeare Library

*Summary*: How can technical services workers ensure that all of their
coworkers are supported and feel engaged with their work, regardless of
experience level or professional credentials?



*Timothy Ryan Mendenhall*
*Metadata Librarian*
*tmendenhall at fordham.edu <tmendenhall at fordham.edu>*

*(718) 817-3554*
*Fax: (718) 817-3541 *

*Fordham University*

*Walsh Library*

*441 E. Fordham Road*
*Bronx, NY 10458*