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Changing Times: Assessment of Continuing Resources Due to Budget Cuts Necessitated by COVID-19
No full textDue to COVID-19, a purchasing freeze was implemented, and budget cuts mandated by Eastern Washington University. This necessitated a review of all the library’s continuing resources with a short turnaround time for decision-making due to subscription renewal deadlines. Considering quantitative and qualitative factors, a collaborative effort from internal stakeholders ensued. A tiered collection assessment decision making approach was designed and implemented. Cancellations ensued, and 25 percent of the collections budget was cut. This project involved a systematic review of databases, individual journal subscriptions, and print standing orders. A project of this scale could not have been as efficient and effective without the cooperative effort between those in collection services, public services, faculty, and administration
Guest Editorial: Navigating Yet More Change
No full textMy first introduction to Mary Beth Weber was a happy accident. I was running late between meetings during ALA Midwinter (yes, this was back in “The Before Times”) and the room, as they often were for cataloging and classification sessions, was packed. An empty seat was open next to Mary Beth, and I claimed it. Between speakers, she introduced herself as the editor of Library Resources and Technical Services (LRTS) and as head of technical services at Rutgers. The details of which conference or what particular session are hazy at this point, as it seems like so much of our life experience of the last two years has blurred what came before. What I do remember is that Mary Beth was there to proudly support her colleague’s work as he presented to that packed room, and she made a point of being a smiling and familiar face in his audience. After the Midwinter Meeting was over, I snail-mailed Mary Beth a thank you card, and was later invited to serve as an intern on the LRTS Editorial Board
Improving Subject Headings for Iowa Indigenous Peoples
No full textBy authorizing outdated terms for North American Indigenous peoples, the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) vocabulary deprioritizes or ignores the preferred names of the peoples being described. As a result, cataloging and metadata professionals constrained by LCSH often must apply names imposed during colonization. For example, in many library catalogs, works about people of the Meskwaki Nation in Iowa are labeled with “Fox Indians--Iowa” and “Sauk Indians--Iowa,” and Ioway peoples are described as “Iowa Indians.” As part of a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiative at Iowa State University Library, a working group in the Metadata Services department undertook a project to build, publish, and use a controlled vocabulary of preferred terms for Indigenous communities with ties to land that is now part of the state of Iowa. This paper describes the working group’s research, outreach efforts, published vocabulary, and process for adding the preferred subject headings to library metadata
Manager Perspectives on the Prevalence, Impact, and Management of Work-Related Burnout in Academic Library Technical Services Workers
No full textWork-related burnout has been studied for decades across multiple industries, including librarianship. However, few studies have evaluated burnout in technical services workers. This study surveys academic library technical services managers to learn their perspective on the prevalence and impact of burnout on technical services workers. Managers observed a high incidence of burnout in their direct reports. The negative impacts of burnout on employees (e.g., personal health) and the organization (e.g., performance decline) are discussed. Managers’ typical practices are evaluated through the lens of burnout prevention and mitigation. Documentation of the typical practices of academic library technical services managers is provided to assist current managers in self-evaluating their practices with peers. Overall, technical services managers are using thoughtful and research supported practices that can have a positive impact on the mitigation and prevention of work-related burnout
Chapter 4. Easily Implementable Changes to Improve Your Website
No full textBefore we can talk about links or buttons, we’ve got to cover an important concept in online marketing. It’s called the CTA (“call to action”). Douglas Karr, writing for Martech, defines CTA: “A call to action is typically as a region of the screen that drives the reader to click-through to engage further with a brand.”Whenever you ask someone to subscribe to your library’s newsletter, register for a program, or get further information, those are examples of CTAs. They’re very common online, but very few libraries have truly mastered how to make these attractive to readers. “Getting people to perform a click of a mouse button—or any desired action—however, is never easy. It takes careful planning and strategizing to get people to heed your CTA, let alone act on it.” It’s simply easier for people to ignore what you’d like them to do than to, you know, actually do it
Book Review: Rightsizing the Academic Library Collection, Second Edition
No full textRightsizing the Academic Library Collection, Second Edition, is an update to the first edition published in 2015, which was awarded a starred review in Library Journal in 2015.1 In the first edition, Ward introduced readers to rightsizing, a tool which enables academic librarians to efficiently and effectively cull collections of little used, irrelevant materials, and reduce collection size, while retaining relevant materials to meet the “changing needs of users” (vii). Miller notes that the first edition resonated with her due to problems at her institution like Ward described. Since the first edition was published, there have been developments to support rightsizing, including forming shared print networks to maintain access to at-risk titles, thus prompting a second edition
Book Review: The Complete Collections Assessment Manual: A Holistic Approach
No full textThe world of collections assessment in any type of library is an ever-dynamic activity. Budgetary considerations are critical, the needs of the constituency served may change, whether or not a library has a sufficient number of staff needed to devote attention to the necessary work in this area. Other concerns for an academic library include the addition of new courses or the establishment of new degree programs. Further considerations are libraries and archives wishing to create an assessment tool towards understanding the scope of their hidden collections. Creating collections assessment tools to help libraries would go a long way to assist them in their decision making. The question is how does a library professional begin the process? What considerations are needed? How should we construct the assessment to provide us with the information we need to make constructive decisions? What tools are available to a library to help in this effort
2022 GODORT ALA Annual Round Up
No full textGODORT again hosted our committee and general membership meetings virtually. The ability to host these meetings virtually has been a boon to our round table. The virtual meetings provide an opportunity for participation by members and non-members who may not be able to attend ALA Annual and provides an opportunity to use GODORT’s time at the in-person conference to host events and programs that will hopefully attract new members and highlight the importance of government information
Cartographic Treasures in the Records of the Supreme Court of the United States
No full textAs many government information librarians know, maps can be found in official publications and documents from just about every type of government agency but as often as we come across them in the expected places there are just as many sources, as historian and cartographer Bill Rankin suggests, of sometimes-stunning maps, plats and images that remain largely unexplored. Often providing crucial context, these maps are usually overlooked once an issue has passed from the news, as they are subordinate to the document or report that they were created to support. This article will introduce one of these unexplored resources: the Records and Briefs of the Supreme Court of the United States. A familiar resource for information about the Supreme Court, the records and briefs are rarely thought of as a resource for cartographic or other visual information yet the historical records and briefs abound with this material