Virtual Technical Services
A Handbook
Mary Beth Weber author Melissa De Fino author
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published:8th May '22
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Prior to the COVID pandemic, there was little published information to guide technical services operations on how to deal with crises and emergencies. Viewed as a backroom operation by administration, little thought historically has been given to how these employees might protect equipment and resources and continue to provide services that seamlessly support the rest of the library.
Virtual Technical Services: A Handbook is the first to address emergency and crisis planning specifically for technical services. The authors address how to create an emergency plan and how to prepare for an uncertain future that will undoubtedly include other threats to our health and safety. We discuss how the pivot to remote work can revolutionize technical services librarianship and allow us to better serve the needs of a 21st Century library.
As the WFH period extended longer than anticipated, libraries and other organizations realized both the challenges and benefits of working remotely. WFH is about more than just doing one’s job, and we focus on employees as individuals with needs that include work/life balance, self-care, and the flexibility to meet life circumstances including childcare, eldercare, and appointments. A unique feature of our book is the focus on employee well-being, including burnout and self-care. Prior to COVID-19, employee well-being was typically not emphasized as part of personnel management. The risks to our health and safety and being removed from the physical workplace provided the opportunity to re-examine priorities and reframe them to forge a stronger and more collaborative relationship between employers and employees. Technical services personnel, in particular, are subject to burnout as their operations are frequently understaffed and they face competing demands of serving both libraries’ physical needs and supporting electronic and digital resources.
Management in a remote work environment has challenges that are not present in an on-site operation. Communication, setting expectations, and documentation and training take on added significance when WFH, as does accountability. Our book addresses these aspects of management through a WFH lens.
The book also covers the return to work after a shift to remote, whether it is completely on-site, hybrid, or some combination. Normalization, determining staffing levels, employee accommodations, and an adjustment period are discussed. Since most technical services personnel have not previously...
Can people work from home? Should they work from home? Rutgers University librarians Weber and De Fino present evidence that people can and should, arguing that remote and hybrid work schedules are better for employees, libraries, and the environment….Though many recent studies have documented the improved productivity of employees who have chosen to work remotely, libraries were thrown into this largely unexplored realm, most with little or no time to plan as a result of the pandemic. Even were it not for pandemics, unforeseen electrical outages, floods, weather emergencies, earthquakes, terrorism, active shooters, and other unfortunate events require that libraries create emergency plans, taking into account the possibility of short- and long-term closures. Applicable to both public and technical services, this work is required reading for librarians and administrators of all types of libraries. * Library Journal, Starred Review *
In Virtual Technical Services: A Handbook, Mary Beth Weber and Melissa De Fino have crafted a thought provoking, sometimes idealistic, sometimes practical tome on performing technical services work remotely. The book addresses remote work both as a temporary measure in response to a calamitous event, such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a permanent working arrangement. This book was an intriguing and rewarding read. The authors' anecdotes about their own experiences of facilitating remote work during not only their COVID-19 pandemic response, but through their experience with 9/11 and several hurricanes bring authenticity to the topics addressed. Its detailing of many factors to consider when initiating remote technical service work is helpful whether one is looking to respond to an emergency or to move to some form of hybrid or full remote work operation. * Technical Services Quarterly *
One of the most enduring impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic may be the way it changed how we think about work, and this is no less true for libraries and their technical services employees. Authors Mary Beth Weber and Melissa De Fino capture this paradigm shift in their very timely publication, Virtual Technical Services: A Handbook. While the book was inspired by the recent pandemic, it is more ambitious than simply a handbook for how to manage during a crisis; rather, it is designed to show the way toward considering full- or part-time telecommuting options for all technical services staff on a permanent basis.... While most librarians have lived through this recent pandemic, this deeply researched book will prove highly useful to technical services librarians as they navigate future crises or simply move to implement a permanent telecommuting option for their staff. This book includes an index and a robust bibliography, and would be appropriate for professional collection in all libraries. * Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship *
ISBN: 9781538152621
Dimensions: 227mm x 161mm x 19mm
Weight: 426g
166 pages