by Annette DeFuso, Technical Services Director
I’ve been managing Technical Services for the last fourteen years. It’s a centralized department located in the Gettysburg branch that provides acquisitions, cataloging, and processing of new items for all six of our branches. When most people think of librarians, they usually only think of the people they see– the ones helping them check out books or answering questions at a public desk. What many people don’t realize is that there’s also a whole team of staff and volunteers working behind the scenes so that all of our new books, videos, and audiobooks can easily be found in the catalog and on our shelves.
Several librarians throughout the system select titles to purchase for the library. We’re each assigned a specific collection, and currently I select the books to buy for the adult fiction section. I choose popular titles, order books in continuing series, and select a few titles by first-time authors. I try to find something for everyone in all types of literature. When the librarians have their selection lists ready, they forward them to me, and I coordinate all of our ordering. Most of our purchasing is now done electronically, so I upload lists into our acquisitions system and transmit them to our vendors.
Popular titles are generally ordered at least a month before they are published. This gives us time to receive the materials and have them ready to check out by their release date, the day on which they can begin to circulate to the public. I add pre-release, on-order records in our catalog for each new title so that anyone who is interested can place their name on the holds list for it.
When new materials are delivered to the library, they come into Technical Services where we begin cataloging them. We place a barcode on each item and verify that all of their information in the catalog is correct and complete, such as the title, the author’s name, and subject headings. Every item is also assigned a call number, a shelf location, and the branch library where it will begin its circulation. On some items, we add extra labels to identify them as belonging to special collections, such as large print or local history. fiction books and audiobooks might have genre labels added to their spines, such as mystery or romance, to help make them easier to find when you’re browsing our shelves.
Then items go to our processing area. We wrap clear plastic covers around the paper jackets of hardcover books. Paperback books have their spines and cover edges reinforced with tape. DVDs are repackaged into sturdier cases. This all helps to protect our items from wear and tear so that they’ll last longer and can circulate more times to more people.
After items have been purchased, cataloged and processed, they are ready to go out on the shelves in all of our branches. However, our work in Technical Services is never really finished. New materials continue to arrive every day, and older materials return to our department for mending. This constant activity behind the scenes helps support the work of the system in providing services and resources to you at your library.