Identify dependencies and limitations inherent in working with other functional areas at Columbia and Cornell, both within and beyond technical services.
Columbia
The Metadata Coordinator and the Metadata Assistant collaborate with colleagues outside LTS for almost all of their work, particularly with the Libraries' Digital Programs Division, the Center for Digital Research and Scholarship, or Columbia's distinctive collections such as the Avery Art & Architecture Library and the Rare Book & Manuscripts Library. With the exception of the Web Archiving Program, all work also originates outside technical services; therefore, the workload can be very uneven. Dependencies on other units within Columbia may also dictate the timetable of a given project, e.g availability of programmer time or the availability of directors needed to approve a particular project.
Technical services units are also heavily dependent on technical support from Libraries' Digital Programs Division and even more so from the Library Information Technology Office. Computers in in these areas are "locked down", which at times can hinder experimentation with new services.
Cornell
Because the majority of projects originate in other departments or virtual groups, Metadata Librarians at Cornell work extensively with departments outside of Library Technical Services (LTS). Since much of the work is project- or initiative-based, each may encounter limitations, but they are not programmatic. To-date no limitations have had an overarching impact on the ability to accomplish objectives.
The Metadata Librarian for Humanities and Special Collections (MLHSC) works extensively with the Digital Scholarship and Preservation Services (DSPS) group. The MLHSC's work on Digital Consulting and Production Services, Cornell University Library Archival Repository and digital humanities projects is fully collaborative with DSPS and dependant on their project management structures. Web Archiving work is in collaboration with Collection Development, CUL-IT and DSPS; given that this initiative is early in development, the limitations and dependencies are not yet determined. The MLHSC works with Library Technical Services colleagues on subsets of projects in limited circumstances, primarily guiding metadata cleanup. The MLHSC's work has limitations mainly in scheduling with other units.
The Discovery Metadata Librarian (DML) works closely with members of the Discovery and Access Team, which is comprised of staff throughout the library system. The workload for this initiative is highly dependant on monthly two-week sprint cycles, whereby user representatives are called upon heavily during off-sprint preparations to ensure that web designers and programmers have sufficient direction during sprints; some preparations include liaising with members of LTS on the use of MARC records. As a member of the Usability Working Group, the DML works with library staff with web usability expertise to assess websites typically in the library domain, with a growing number of requests to provide related services to sites across the Cornell campus. Production demands for image cataloging for the Knight Visual Resource Collection (coordinated by the DML) has increased dramatically in 2012-2013, and as a department LTS has scaled staffing to meet this need through a combination of temporary new hires and reallocation of existing staff.
The Science Data and Metadata Librarian's efforts are largely driven by priorities set by the Library's Data Executive Group and the campus-wide collaborative Research Data Management Service Group. Additional metadata work originates from Mann Digital Repositories Steering Group projects as well as directly from faculty requests. In most cases, work is presented with enough planning (e.g. annual project updates) or lead time to not impact or cause limitations in concurrent or ongoing efforts.