Technical Services Today and Tomorrow (2nd ed.)

Citation

Hider, P. (1999), "Technical Services Today and Tomorrow (2nd ed.)", Library Management, Vol. 20 No. 6, pp. 48-48. https://doi.org/10.1108/lm.1999.20.6.48.3

At a time when some librarians may be uncertain of their role in the information future, this revised collection of essays is timely. Michael Gorman and his fellow contributors remind readers of the technical core of librarians′ activities ‐‐ what they are, why they do them, and why they will continue to do them, no matter what the information future may hold in store for us. Libraries in the next century will still acquire materials and they will still need to catalogue them ‐‐ if they are to function as libraries. Librarians who currently specialise in technical service work should not need this pointed out to them, nor will they necessarily benefit from the introductions to the various technical services; non‐specialists, however, may well find the book a useful summary of the state of play in the fields of cataloguing, acquisitions, and circulation.

Many of the chapters have been rewritten, but the aim of the book remains the same: to provide an overview of the way in which the technical services are building on the solid foundations of past work to meet the new challenges of “today and tomorrow. Some might regard it as a somewhat conservative book, but this is precisely the point ‐‐ we need someone of Gorman′s stature to stand up for the tradition of library work least appreciated not only by non‐librarians, but even by some library managers, their attention having been diverted by more fashionable, headline‐Ñ grabbing topics.

The book covers the main fields, though it is a pity the chapter on preservation has been dropped. The section on “bibliographic Ñcontrol”, which is in fact on cataloguing, is twice the size of that on acquisitions. Some of the repetition in the chapters, particularly evident in the cataloguing section, might have been avoided with greater editorial direction. The additional chapter on cataloguing standards and globalisation would have been improved by a more global perspective. The cataloguing management chapter, by Roxanne Sellberg, is excellent; the chapter on technical services organisation is disappointing, stating little more than the obvious. Some of the chapters, such as the online catalogue one, could have profited from pictures and diagrams. A few more readings would also have been welcome.

Gorman′s chapter on descriptive cataloguing pulls no punches, defending AACR and MARC in the face of the challenge from the Dublin Core. He correctly accuses some “metadata” enthusiasts of reinventing the bibliographic wheel; on the other hand, now that they have done, it would be better, instead of dismissing their efforts so curtly, to discuss how librarians could help to integrate MARC and Dublin Core ‐‐ especially since he also attacks the cumbersome, outdated nature of the MARC format. I do not entirely agree with his view that the main entry heading and references are redundant in the computer catalogue: main entry can still be used as a means to identify a work; the authorised heading, as opposed to the references, still needs to be the heading used in the bibliographic records consistently. Incidentally, the MARC example at the bottom of p. 89 should read “” instead of “”.

The postscript by Gorman is uplifting. He writes with a passion as well as with authority. Cataloguing and acquisitions work are professional activities: they are not to be outsourced lightly; instead, they are to be studied at library school. Indeed, this book would serve as a primer for library school students. It is to be hoped that they will also be required to read much further in the fields of technical services.