Venturing from the “Back Room”: Do Technical Services Librarians Have a Role in Information Literacy?

Abstract

Catalogers, electronic resources librarians, and acquisitions librarians spend a lot of their time in the "back room" of their library. Yet even as their roles expand to include participation in innovative library initiatives like institutional repositories, shared print analysis, and digital collections, they are not often consulted on new user-instruction activities like enhancing the information literacy (IL) programs for their library community. Information literacy to advance student learning is now emphasized by many accrediting agencies, making it one of the hottest topics in public services today. There are endless library conferences, workshops, and poster sessions devoted to its meaning, methods and assessment. Is there any connection between Technical Services and Information Literacy? Do technical services professionals have a role at their library for improving information literacy within their user community? Can they have something to contribute to the discussion? This paper proposes that these "back room" librarians do have a place in IL efforts and should be included in the conversation. Suggestions include reasons to collaborate on IL with public service colleagues and methods of active learning to use in one-shot sessions. Additionally, the paper highlights ways to relate professional roles to IL initiatives, demonstrates how to make time for participation in these initiatives, and provides ideas for staying on top of trending IL topics.

Initiating Cultural Shifts in Perceptions of Cataloging Units through Interaction Assessment

“…They explain the need for these groups to be part of the academic conversations and that technical services librarians have an "…intimate knowledge of workflow in their own department that may impact the library's efforts in information literacy." 15 Most of the authors mentioned previously offer helpful insight into possible solutions for addressing the issues of misconceptions, underestimated value, and changing roles of cataloging librarians. Based on their observations, one can easily conclude that the best solution lies on the shoulders of the catalogers themselves.…”