Journal Article: “Evolving Nature of Library Technical Services in Response to Outsourcing”

The article linked below was recently published by Pathfinder: A Canadian Journal for Information Science Students and Early Career Professionals.

Title

Evolving Nature of Library Technical Services in Response to Outsourcing

Author

Jolene Bennett
University of Calgary

Source

Pathfinder: A Canadian Journal for Information Science Students and Early Career Professionals, 3(1)
DOI: 10.29173/pathfinder50

Abstract

The landscape of library technical services is evolving in response to the outsourcing of library work such as cataloguing, acquisitions, and processing. This literature review explores the body of research on the transitioning nature of library technical services and presents its findings with a thematic overview of the cost effectiveness of outsourcing, vendor quality control and evaluation, staffing levels, changing workloads, organizational restructuring, user experience, knowledge management as well as diversity, inclusion, and access. While the literature reveals little doubt that outsourcing has had a significant impact on library technical services, how can libraries guide their technical services teams forward through this transition? The themes explored here suggest that additional skillsets are necessary for increasingly complex workloads in response to changing library user needs. Library leadership will need to provide their staff with training and professional development to meet these changing needs all while having successful change management strategies in place that leverage existing skillsets and support the continued evolutionary landscape of library technical services.

Direct to Full Text Article
17 pages; PDF.

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