Shannon Tennant

Carol Grotnes Belk Library, Elon University

STAYING RELEVANT IN

TECHNICAL SERVICES

Founded 1889; located adjacent to Bur l ington, NC

2013-2014 Enro l lment: 6 ,305 ( inc luding graduate students)

Around 350000 pr int vo lumes, 44000 e -books, 13000 DVDs, 150+ onl ine databases

Caro l Grotnes Belk L ibrar y opened in 2000

ELON UNIVERSITY – A PROFILE

Then… And now.

TECHNICAL SERVICES @ BELK LIBRARY

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING

TECH SERVICES DEPARTMENT

3

5

3

4

5

1

3

1

0

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

2000 2005 2014

Students

Librarians

Paraprofessionals

Budgets

Technology

Shifting collection formats

Because nothing ever stays the same…

REASONS

WHAT CAN I DO?

Public Services

Archives

“Other duties as assigned” in Tech Services

BE FLEXIBLE

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Library technology/trends ALCTS webinars

Other technologies Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), web searching, scanners

“Personal development” Time management

Leadership

Language classes

DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR IT!

All they can do say is no.

GET TRAINING

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Public Services

Meetings

Committees

Library

Campus/Town/County

Presentations

Conferences

STOP HIDING AND BE VISIBLE

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Are you: Then try:

Detail-oriented? Editing metadata

Good at organizing? Displays, database management

Good with people? Working with the public

Good with your hands? Book repair, MakerSpaces

Good with Facebook and Pinterest? Library social media outreach

IDENTIFY MY STRENGTHS AND USE THEM

HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE

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QUESTIONS?

SHANNON TENNANTSTENNANT@ELON.EDU