Vital Technical Services in Academic Libraries Leopoldo M. Montoya May 1999

Past, Present, and Future of Work in Library Technical Services Five issues to be discussed: –access to resources, with emphasis on remote storage –administration of library human resources –the new ANSI standard for display of holdings of monographs and serials –the restructured MeSH –cataloging of computer files in disc format.

New Ideas on Access to Information Making decisions on new forms of information Better thinking about the future The individual situation at each Library

Is There Anything New Under the Sun? Philosophy of time Remote access to print and electronic resources Conservation, reproduction, digitization Vertical instead of horizontal thinking

Vertical Model for the Management of Resources  Internet  Library  Storage

The Library Library operations, a process from the past to the immediate future Library property, an organism in the midst of the users’ collective mental existence A physical and intellectual environment to be kept healthy

Storage The role of the storage facility in preserving valuable materials Quantitative and qualitative criteria to deselect titles for storage Access to storage materials ensured by proper cataloging (or digitizing?)

The Vertical Model, Refined  Management  Internet  Library  Storage

Recent Advances in Bibliographic Control Vertical and horizontal thinking about collections Bibliographic control of materials in any format and accessible by any means Resource “locators” and records rewritten in “markup languages”

Provisional Conclusion “Bibliographic Instruction” and “Education” in relation to Resource Management The responsibility of librarians concerning both print and electronic resources Examples for the application of the vertical model to Resource Management

Leadership distinct from management Team work, retraining, renewal Faster and faster change in libraries Personnel Administration

Vertical Model for the Management of Human Resources  Human Resources  Workers  Managers  Leaders  Organization’s History

The Z39.71Standard New ANSI standard for display of holdings Covers serial and nonserial resources To be applied to all formats, physical or electronic

More about Z39.71 Communication of holdings data in MARC to be updated Levels of specificity for less and more complex materials Examples of compressed and itemized holdings statements

The New MeSH A revised structure for headings and subheadings Cataloging and indexing will practice in the same way Only topical subheadings distribute headings

More about the New MeSH Use of subject fields 651 and 655 for what previously were geographic and form subheadings Three alternatives offered to medical libraries The value of the MeSH trees

Cataloging of Nonaudio CDs Their preservation and use Accompanying material vs. separate bibliographic entities Notes in the bibliographic record LC’s interim guidelines for cataloging electronic resources

Getting Technical about Nonaudio CDS Use of fields 007, 300, 516, and 538 for descriptive cataloging Field 006 for accompanying materials Networking of compact discs Adjustment of fields 538 and 856 for remote access CD

Our Excursion, Summarized Our Excursion, Summarized From the general to the specific, or the roots to the branches Need for continuous pruning The prescription, “Something old, new, borrowed, and ‘blue’” The life of “the tree of knowledge” in our libraries and communities

Definitive Conclusion Other issues and topics need to be studied : need for dialog, criticism, and team work Practice vertical thinking by way of imagination Examples of publications in various formats