Telling the Technical Services Story – Call for chapters
ALCTS Monographs is seeking proposals from authors for a new monograph of case studies exploring methods to improve communication in technical services departments.
Summary:
In an era of increased cross-departmental collaboration and decreased budgets, it has become more and more important for technical services departments to be able to communicate their story and demonstrate their positive impact on users – whether to their administration, their colleagues in other areas of the library, or even within their own departments. The case studies in this monograph will highlight such projects from a range of libraries.
Intended Audience: Technical services managers, administrators, and deans in all types of libraries.
Chapter length: 4,000-5,000 words (Approx. 8-10 pages)
Preliminary Table of Contents:
The monograph is expected to be separated into five sections:
- Communication within technical services
Sample topics:
· Improving communication/modeling good communication
· Communicating across generations
· Methods of efficient workplace communication
- Communication with colleagues outside of the department
Sample topics:
· Communicating with public services/systems departments
· Communicating workflows and timelines
· Navigating hidden biases
- Communication with library administration
Sample topics:
· Communicating budget needs/expenditures
· Advocacy for department/staff
· Planning for new developments/trends in the field
- Communication with outside stakeholders
Sample topics:
· Impact of technical services on library services
· Communicating with outside departments (city, county, campus, etc.)
· Working with stakeholders on outside projects
- Communication to promote yourself
Sample topics:
· Communicating the importance of technical services positions
· Communicating your value when applying for promotion
Chapter author(s), please provide:
· A brief abstract of your proposed chapter (600-800 words)
· A brief biographical statement of the author(s)
Please submit proposals by October 1, 2019 to alctsmonographs@lists.ala.org. Notification of acceptance will occur by December 31, 2019. Selected authors should plan to submit the final draft of their chapter no later than May 18, 2020.
