Technical Services Today and Tomorrow 2nd edition

Citation

Satija, M.P. (1999), "Technical Services Today and Tomorrow 2nd edition", Library Review, Vol. 48 No. 4, pp. 331-332. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.1999.48.4.331.2

Technical services are the homework to perform user services. These are the means to provide the best services and make optimum use of library resources. Their purpose is to connect the user with the information ‐‐ in a way that is timely, efficient and least expensive. The specific mission of technical services librarians is to make sure that documents are acquired, recorded, organised, made accessible and preserved in a cost‐effective manner. It seeks the marriage of utility to idealism. Quality of library services intrinsically depends upon quality of technical services. In the electronic environment changes are unprecedently fast. Not only has the once clear demarcation between technical and user services become fuzzy, but the two are becoming one, like W.B. Yeats′s dancer and the dance. This trend is described in detail by Jennifer Younger et al. (pp. 165‐181).

The first edition (1990), hailed by critics and librarians alike, had many contributors led by Michael Gorman, a recipient of the ALA Dewey Gold Medal (1992), a prolific writer and a celebrity for his outstanding work for AACR2 (1978+). For the second edition Gorman has roped in some more experts to revise those chapters where original Ñcontributors were not available. He has been able to orchestrate together so many illustrious names. The second edition has been edited by Gorman in addition to his chapter on descriptive cataloguing.

The volume not only describes the nature and scope of various technical services but also illuminates their intra‐relations among themselves and their role in the overall library setup, especially in the changed electronic environment. The major emphasis is on what and why rather than on how. Here it is in sharp contrast to Evans and Heft (1994). Gorman focuses on their relevance and current thinking in the field.

Besides Gorman′s tone setting introduction and thought‐provoking epilogue, the book has been divided in 13 chapters grouped into four sections, namely acquisition, bibliographic control (the largest and the core part), automation and administration. The topics dealt with here range from acquiring documents by order or through gifts or exchange, serial management, bibliographic standards, descriptive cataloguing, subject cataloguing and classification, cataloguing management, authority control, OPACs and circulation services ‐‐ this latter belongs to technical services, asserts Gorman. The remaining two chapters are on technical services organization,and financing and budgeting (there is hardly a separate budget for technical services in libraries ‐‐ except for acquisition). The new edition drops three chapters on book gathering plans, preservation, and Slavic technical services, but adds a cutting edge chapter on “Bibliographic standards and the globalization of bibliographic control” by the famous Pat Oddy. One may acquiesce with the inclusion of betwixt and between chapters on circulation and finance, but topics of subject cataloguing and indexing such as thesauri, subject headings lists, and precis have been given a step‐motherly treatment in tucking them in with classification. These need independent full space treatment.

The chapters have been adeptly coordinated. Each chapter has been divided into sections with feature headings. Every chapter begins with an introduction or historical background and ends with a summary, future trends, notes and further readings. In between are addressed theoretical, philosophical and practical and policy questions. Savour a few: “Does globalisation make individual libraries, even national libraries, powerless?” (p. 71); “How can subject retrieval tools found on the Web be adapted for use in library catalogues?” (p. 108); or makes optimistic predictions like: “\ldots the role of librarians will grow and thrive in both print and electronic environments (pp. 50‐51); and warm words of wisdom like: “The future lies with those who will seize it” (p. 201). Making a strong indictment of outsourcing, Gorman advocates in‐house performance of professional tasks for quality and cost‐effective services to the library community. It provides a splendid opportunity to enhance library services. Virtual libraries only supplement real (print) libraries and will in no way supplant them. Its central message is to apply IT to achieve traditional but enduring principles and values. Neither be a Luddite nor be besotted by IT.

The book is aimed at thinking librarians and scholars rather than at technophiles. It is concerned with what, why, and what next rather than how. This is a state‐of‐the‐art volume with a vision and never gets bogged down by the technicalities of the subject. It is hard to find so technical a book which is so readable. It is thus a worthy successor to Maurice Tauber′s Technical Services in ÑLibraries (Columbia University, 1954). A glossary of terms is something obviously missing from such a composite text. An analytical table of contents is in the tradition of Libraries Unlimited; so are its attractive getup and reasonable price. It is essential reading for all librarians to understand the nature, status, value of, and advances in, technical services in libraries.