First Meeting of the ALCTS Public Libraries Technical Services Interest Group!

The brand new Public Libraries Technical Services Interest Group will be meeting for the very first time at ALA Annual in Chicago.  The formal charge of the group is: To provide a forum for the discussion of technical services issues in public libraries, particularly those unique to public library operations, with the aim to encourage discussion of all aspects of technical services activities and to include all levels of technical services staff within public libraries.  The idea for this group arose in a meeting of the ALCTS Implementation Task Group on the LC Working Group at Midwinter in Denver.  We were talking about how there were a number of Interest Groups in ALCTS that focused on Academic Libraries, but none for public libraries.  Then, the brainstorm hit: we could change this by putting forward a petition for a ALCTS new interest group!  Marlene Harris, who is the first chair of the group (through Annual 2010), and Cynthia Whitacre, current temporary Vice-Chair, agreed to pursue this with the support of this group.. We were delighted when a group of ALCTS members stepped forward to sign the petition and the ALCTS Board acted swiftly to approve the group.    

The first meeting will be from 8:00-10:00 AM on Saturday, July 11 in the Chicago Hilton Northwest 1 Room.  The topic of discussion will be what differentiates public library technical services from technical services operations in other types of libraries.  Marlene Harris, Alachua County Library District, will moderate the discussion.  Bryan Baldus of Quality Books will discuss how their cataloging and processing operation provides services to public libraries that differ from other types of libraries.  All attending are invited to participate in the discussion. Organizational topics will be covered for the new interest group, and a new Vice-Chair will be elected.  The Vice-Chair will become the chair following the 2010 ALA Annual meeting.  Program ideas and discussion topics for future meetings will be solicited.  We also hope to launch active virtual participation on ALA Connect space following ALA Annual. All public librarians and others who are interested are enthusiastically invited to be part of this interest group.

Marlene A. Harris
Support Services Division Director
Alachua County Library District
401 E University Avenue
Gainesville, FL 32601
352-334-3968
www.aclib.us