Assembling the future ready technical services team in SMU libraries

• Main Author: HENG, Kai Leong
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2018
• Subjects: Collection Development and Management; Library and Information Science
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/library_research/142; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1146&context=library_research
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Libraries today are faced with complex challenges that are brought about by the shift from print to electronic resources over the last decade. The rapid growth in the number of electronic resources requires libraries to allocate additional manpower to support work processes in various stages of the electronic resources lifecycle. The question that we need to ask ourselves is: What is the impetus for our staff to change? Are they prepared to embrace the change and to start to learn, unlearn and relearn? The traditional organizational structure of a Library’s Technical Services department is designed to support the daily operations of printed monographs, serials and audio/visual materials, but in today’s world, are libraries still procuring these resources as much as they do years back? How can the department morphed into one that works effectively and efficiently for electronic resources? Using Singapore Management University (SMU) Libraries as a case study, the presenter will share the journey of how the Technical Services team was transformed into one that is made out of staff who are both confident and competent to wrangle around the complexity of electronic resources management in the present and future world.