2CUL Phase 2:
General Issues for Technical Services Integration
- Culture. Different approaches at Columbia and Cornell towards operational matters may often reflect underlying differences in attitudes, values, and goals that are not immediately apparent or well understood. We need to foster a new culture in which each institution is willing to modify a long-held practice for the common good, even if it seems less efficient locally and in the short term.
- Students. Understanding why we differ in our decisions about when to use students for technical processing. Perceptions of students’ abilities? Different experiences in hiring, training, and retaining students? Union vs. non-union environments? Cost/benefit of shelf-ready processing plays out differently?
- License Terms. Understanding differences in how and what we negotiate – regarding non-disclosure agreements, for instance. Are the limits of what’s acceptable set by university counsel? Library administration? Collection Development? How important is faculty demand? How do we manage selector expectations?
- Fund Management and Accounting. Why have we set up our fund structures differently? What are the demands and pressures from fund managers, library administration, university financial units? What objectives are we trying to meet, and how do we evaluate competing interests?
- Vendor Selection. How do we decide what vendors to use? Ability to supply hard-to-get material? Price? Potential for processing efficiency? Who makes the decision and why? How and when do we use Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.?
- Customized Procedures. How do we respond to desires by departments or individuals to “do things differently”? How do we weigh perceived service value vs. added complexity and cost? Who really makes the decisions?
Bob Wolven, Spring 2012