A technical services librarian specializes in acquiring, organizing and preserving all kinds of library materials.
Careers in Library Technical Services can include the following areas:
- Acquisitions – purchasing materials like books, electronic resources, videos, games, etc. for a library
- Collection Development & Management – the selection of materials acquired by the library based on type of the library, mission, and audience.
- Cataloging – the description of materials in the library providing access for users and staff through an online catalog
- Classification – the organization of materials in a library by a schedule such as Library of Congress or Dewey Decimal for retrieval by subject
- Preservation & Archives – the care and preservation of the materials in a library incorporating binding, conservation techniques, microfilming and digitization
- Continuing Resources – the acquisition, organization, and access for materials published in a series such as magazines, periodicals, journals in both print and electronic.
- Preservation and Archives - activities include library binding of serials and monographs, repair of circulating collections, rehousing and enclosures, disaster planning, environmental monitoring, reformatting of brittle materials (microfilming and preservation photocopying) and in some cases full conservation treatments on special collections materials.
Want more information?
To find out more about technical services visit the Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures (CORE) website, a division of the American Library Association.
Have you ever wondered how all the information in library online catalogs is collected and organized in a way that makes it accessible and useful to us when we need it? See In Appreciation of Library Catalogers and Cataloging Standards by David Badertscher.
Team Digital Preservation and the Deadly Cryptic Conundrum
Learn about the importance of metadata and digital preservation from DigitalPreservationEurope.
What is Digital Curation?
The explosion in electronic data in recent years, especially as it relates to scholarship, science, and education, has given birth to a new discipline within library science called digital curation.
Digital, or data curation specialists, as they're sometimes called, manage electronic resources throughout their useful life cycle. They're responsible for maintaining and preserving digital data; they also provide value to scholars and researchers by enhancing access to existing and historical research, making it readily available for further high quality research.
Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures is the national association that advances the profession of librarians and information providers in central roles of leadership and management, metadata and collections, and technology.