Keep calm and carry on: the new technical services

Librarians have long been information stewards, and in technical services we serve this role by acquiring, describing, and providing access to information resources. In the past this meant our skills were highly specialized and clearly defined – we were book vendor negotiators, catalogers, access specialists. In recent years, however, we have witnessed drastic changes in both the resources we manage and the users who access them which have forced us to reevaluate our roles in technical services. New formats have proliferated, challenging our methods of resource description and management. Resources are available through numerous channels that frequently bypass the library altogether. Our users expect instant access to information for minimal investments of time and energy. People now find information readily at home and on the go via mobile devices, and as a result libraries have fallen in prominence as gatekeepers of information resources.