Learn, share, and network with other technical services specialists in a relaxed campus environment at the Nationwide Hotel & Conference Center in Lewis Center, Ohio (North Columbus). The 2022 Technical Services Retreat will be held April 13-14.

Sponsored by the Technical Services Division

Register at my OLC | Registration Deadline: 4/6/22

Registration Fees:
Member*: $190 | Non-member $380

*Individual members or staff of OLC Institutional member libraries.

Overview: Technical Services is not a singular job. There are many different roles and tasks to perform including issues surrounding intellectual freedom, diversity, adaptability and resourcefulness. Join your colleagues for the 2022 Technical Services Retreat, an educational program that strikes the perfect balance between the big picture and focused, practical topics. This two-day event draws technical services specialists from libraries and related organizations to learn, share, and network in a relaxed and productive campus environment.

Continuing Education Credits: For those working toward their Ohio Public Librarian or Ohio Public Library Staff re-certification, this conference counts as 12 contact hours.

What’s Included: Morning & afternoon refreshments and lunch on Wednesday and Thursday. Also includes dinner and evening event on Wednesday. All handouts, provided by presenters, will be available online. Print them prior to the retreat, view them from your personal device during the event or view/download them after the event. The handouts will be available online for 30 days following the program. 

Intended Audience: Technical Services library staff

Hotel Accommodations: A room block has been reserved at the Nationwide Hotel and Conference Center (PH: 614-880-4300). Please indicate that you are with the OLC’s Technical Services Retreat when reserving your room. Reservations can also be made online. Group code: 257963. The reservation cutoff is March 23, 2022. Hotel health and safety measures.

AGENDA:

Day One – Wednesday, April 13

9:30 – 10:30 a.m. | Registration and morning refreshments – Virginia Building

10:30 – 11 a.m. | Welcome and Introductions
Room: Grand Ballroom 1-2

11 a.m. – 12 p.m. | Opening Keynote – PIVOT: Change, Adapt, Excel!

Wendy Bartlett

Room: Grand Ballroom 1-2
Keynote: Wendy Bartlett, Collection Development and Acquisitions Manager, Cuyahoga County Public Library

Being proactive and flexible in Technical Services means leading on important issues within our own library’s walls and keeping an eye open for new technologies. But increasingly, Tech Service leadership and staff are called upon to consider everything from tariffs on books and paper to increasing demands to change workflow and priorities at a moment’s notice. How can we help ourselves and our teams to stay energized and excel in this rapidly changing environment? We’ll talk!

Ohio Public Library Core Competency (CC): Leadership

12 – 1:15 p.m. | Lunch and networking – Dining Room in Ohio Building

1:15 – 2:15 p.m. | Breakout sessions (choose one)

2:15 – 2:30 p.m. | Break

2:30 – 3:45 p.m. | Unprograms (choose one)

5 – 8 p.m. | Dinner and Board Games – Edgewater Dining Room in Ohio Building
This event is included with your registration. If you are not able to attend the dinner, please select “No thanks” when registering.

Day Two – Thursday, April 14

8:30 – 9 a.m. | Registration and morning refreshments

9 – 10 a.m.| Breakout sessions (choose one)

10 – 10:45 a.m. | Break and check-out time

10:45 – 11:45 a.m. | Breakout sessions (choose one)

12 – 1:15 p.m. | Lunch and networking – Dining Room in Ohio Building

Helka Casey

1:15 – 2:30 p.m. | Closing Keynote – Strategies for Self-Care and Avoiding Burnout

Room: Grand Ballroom 1-2

Keynote: Helka Casey, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor

In this 60-minute interactive session, you will explore ways to view and approach ongoing change in the workplace, address burnout and what we can do about it. Casey will identify practical coping skills that can benefit you both professionally and personally. Audience participation is encouraged as we will borrow strength and real-life suggestions from each other. The session will conclude with a voluntary brief guided meditation.

CC: Staff Development

Wednesday Session Descriptions
1:15 – 2:15 p.m.

MarcEdit for Absolute Beginners
Have you been hearing about MarcEdit and wondering if it’s something you should know about? This session will take you through a tour of the MarcEdit program to give you an idea of what you can do with it. This will be a basic overview for those who are not using MarcEdit, or only using it for one kind of task, and wonder if there is more they could do with it.

Topics include:

• finding and installing the program
• file formats and converting between them
• MarcEditor—validate, edit, and analyze records
• MarcEdit and Excel
• The MarcEdit community

Basic Book Repair
Want to get a little more life from your paperbacks? Need a few more circs on your best sellers before they fall apart? Want to learn a few tricks to keep your collection looking good? If so, this session is for you! This session is loaded with useful information on how to keep your circulating items on the shelves for as long as possible and is for popular materials repair only. Archival repair will not be covered in this session.

Playing Well with Others: How cooperative cataloging prepares us for linked data
For over one hundred years, consortial standards, WorldCat, and other shared projects have been providing experiences fundamental to new collaborations like linked data. Not just for catalogers, this session explores how we can translate our current daily workflows – in authorities, public documentation, project management, and more – to prepare for future philosophies and environments.

Unprogram Descriptions
(Unprograms are moderator-facilitated discussions among participants)
2:30 – 3:45 p.m.

Global Village or Dumpster Fire? The Technical Services Community Online
Email lists, Facebook groups and other social media communities for technical services librarians – blessing or scourge? Have you ever found just the answer you needed from an expert online? Or found yourself roasted for asking the “wrong” question? Let’s talk about the various online communities, and how to make the most of them, whether you are looking for advice, community, or just a sympathetic ear. This is an “Unprogram” so be ready to share your stories of success, failures, or just encounters with trolls. Let’s share ideas about how to keep things collegial, avoid misunderstandings, and find the right forum for whatever you need.

Down and Dirty Collection Management
Every library requires a clear vision of the community it serves in order to meet that community’s needs. So how do we choose the materials our libraries provide? How do we manage the demand for our most popular titles? Our panel of collection development librarians will talk about the nuts and bolts of review sites, online ordering, holds ratios, and digital platforms in use at libraries large and small. Come prepared to discuss everything you ever wanted to know about collection management, but were too afraid to ask.

The Cataloger’s Tool Box
Pressed for time and working with limited resources, the modern catalog librarian is always on the lookout for ways to make his or her job a little easier. In this unprogram, we’ll explore some of our favorite tips, hacks, work-arounds and out-of-the-box solutions to perplexing problems. Come to share your front-line stories, and maybe discover a new approach to solving some of your cataloging conundrums. And even if you’re not a cataloger, you may find a useful trick or two to incorporate into your workflow.

Thursday Session Descriptions
9 – 10 a.m.

Emerge Triumphant: How to Train and Manage Your Staff Virtually During a Pandemic and Beyond
Since the spring of 2020, libraries and their staff have been working hard to adapt to new staffing levels, new challenges and new work and workloads. Toledo Lucas County Public Library was no exception. In this session, participants will hear a brief recap of how Tech Services adapted to Toledo’s staffing changes and new workloads, which resulted in continuous changes to workflows. This in turn drove the implementation of managing and training staff virtually for upwards of 16 months. This session will include a discussion how TLCPL has been virtually training and managing staff utilizing Google Drive, Zoom, calendar rotations, and updating workflows, and has emerged more efficient in the long run. Learn tips and tricks on how to train, manage, and document your work processes virtually in this timely course.

Open Source Cataloging Rules: Leveling the Field
Cataloging rules and subscription services cost big bucks, spurring fresh conversations about how we develop and share our standards. As national libraries around the world provide free and open access to their content, more libraries want consistent and equitable access to basic tools. This session will talk about the history of open access efforts to build and maintain free and accessible rules.

Open Doors and Free Puppies
The tools provided by the Wikimedia Foundation, including Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons, offer important benefits for libraries seeking to expose and connect their collections to the broader web environment. They also provide new opportunities – and direct challenges – to libraries and their paradigms of metadata creation. This presentation will explore the fit, and the friction, between the library metadata community, the Wikimedia community, and the users and enthusiasts they seek to serve. Attendees will gain an understanding of the benefits, challenges, and responsibilities that come with participating in this influential ecosystem.

Thursday Session Descriptions
10:45 – 11:45 a.m.

Circulating Unusual Items and Adapting Your Eclectic Collection
Have you wanted to circulate unusual/non-print items, but don’t know where to start? Do you have an eclectic collection that you’d like to develop further, but aren’t sure where to go? We will discuss how to plan, implement and circulate unusual items in your community and adapt over time. The pandemic may have changed the way in which patrons utilize some of these collections, but shifting focus doesn’t have to be overwhelming. From board games to telescopes, sewing machines to giant yard games, karaoke machines to knitting needles and so much more can all find a home in your library.

Building Responsive Collections by Improving Communication With Public Services Staff
Robust communication between selectors and public services staff can be a challenge – but it is especially difficult for a large library system with 23 locations, centralized selection, and a separate Operations Center for technical services staff. Come hear how Columbus Metropolitan Library’s selection and acquisitions team facilitates regular information sharing, gathers timely and actionable feedback on patron needs, and identifies “missed opportunities” for circulation through structured collaboration with public services staff. We’ll discuss our various methods and communication channels, and we will share tools and techniques that are scalable for all types and sizes of libraries.