Elisa J. Rodrigues: Diversity within Technical Services
by: Elisa J. Rodrigues
Elisa J. Rodrigues is a Library Systems Assistant at the University of San Francisco. She has a Master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of Washington. She is a first generation American and degree holder. As a white passing woman of color, Elisa prioritizes the works of other women of color in white spaces and acknowledges her privileges due to her white adjacency. Elisa started working in public libraries in Circulation, before moving into Technical Services, where she focuses on accessibility, privacy, and staff training. Her research focuses on technology as a tool and weapon within communities of color. She recently co-presented at ALA Midwinter on how to prioritize marginalized voices when implementing library technologies and was briefly erased from the narrative in favor of her white male co-presenter. Find her on Twitter: @elisjr4
Photo from Pixabay
As library collections digitally expand, the demand for technical expertise provided by the elusive library Technical Services Department becomes more central within the library ecosystem. But what is Technical Services and what do we do? Technical Services departments are the black box of the library world that all levels of librarianship find nebulous. We only seem to take form to fix those pesky computer problems and create new ones, before disappearing into our backroom cubicles.
Sometimes the only interaction front facing services have with us is when a problem occurs. We apply rules and standards within the constraints given to us to best serve the library and our patrons. The majority of Technical Services departments want to best meet the needs of our patrons and give them a good experience.
Before I discuss diversity, or the lack thereof, within Technical Services, I am going to try to demystify some of the work we do in the Technical Services department.
It could be said that our biggest hurdle toward diversity is no one knows what Technical Services is, nor what we do.
Technical Services typically houses Acquisitions, Cataloging, Digital Collections, and Library Systems. Sometimes Interlibrary Loan (ILL) lives in Technical Services, depending on funding and if the library agency sees the service as patron facing.
Acquisitions frequently includes book purchasing, materials budgeting, processing (property stamping, labels, barcodes, mylar application), and weeding.
Cataloging today is mostly about discoverability. They ensure that our records properly describe and class our physical and virtual records in a way that our patrons can search our catalog with a vague term such as ‘motion pictures’ and get both materials on motion pictures and motion picture films.
Digital Collections curates and maintains the institutional repository and digitizes materials from archival collections.
Library Systems (LS) is almost IT, but geared toward library services . They manage the Integrated Library System (ILS) --also known as Library Management System (LMS), such as Sierra, Millennium, Ex Libris/Alma, Koha, etc. Library employees use the ILS to access and manage library resources. LS often manages the library discovery layer (the graphic interface that users interact with like BiblioCommons, Encore, Fusion EDS, and Primo to name a few) and sometimes the library website.
All of these departments live within Technical Services in some overlap and require technology experience and a sharp eye. However, it is totally possible to break into the work.
Photo by Mateus Campos Felipe on Unsplash
So, where is the diversity?
The data collected on diversity within librarianship relies heavily on self-selecting, self-identifying statistics (see ALA’s Diversity Counts) and I could not find recent and credible data that speaks solely to diversity in Technical Services. I can only speak on who I have met within the field and to my experience as a paraprofessional in Technical Service departments, first in a public library and later in a private academic, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California.
Technical Services departments lack People of Color. Library Systems departments, where half of my Technical Services experience lives, are dominated by white men.
This is not surprising given its close adjacency to IT (another profession that is heavily dominated by white men). This is not to say there is no diversity in Technical Services, but just as in other aspects of libraries, whiteness and men are allowed to rise to the top and everyone else’s labor is erased, even in the nebulous realm of Technical Services. It is disconcerting when a place prides itself as a champion of diversity when diversity only exists at the paraprofessional level. Paraprofessionals shouldn’t shoulder an institution’s diversity efforts or numbers when paraprofessionals rarely receive the pay, acknowledgement, protections, or professional development of classified librarians, yet oftentimes they do.
Diversity in Technical Services is not helped by high minimum requirements for entry level jobs. Paraprofessional positions often require previous library work and once experienced, the transition to librarianship requires the MLIS, high level computer skills, and intimate knowledge of libraries and their inner workings. This makes getting into Technical Services a game of luck while also combating cuts and increased workloads given the increase in digital demand.
Speaking to other women of color (WOC) working in Technical Services, most point out that BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) are cut out even before the application process. Many Technical Services skills are only accessible to those already in the library field and oftentimes through volunteer work or paid professional development. This is challenging for BIPOC to justify when there is no financial incentives or formal support. Many of my colleagues in the field mentioned the challenge of finding a paid student position, often during undergrad, and the uncertainty of qualifying for an entry level paraprofessional position. These just add to the Technical Services Department barriers to entry.
How does lack of diversity in Technical Services manifest in librarianship?
It has ramifications within our structures. The exclusionary nature of the Dewey Decimal Classification, the offensive naming of Library of Congress Subject Headings, even the lack of representation within collections is related to the middle class whiteness of the profession, which is upheld by the work done in the Technical Services department.
This is not to discount the fantastic work being done by people within Technical Services. Many libraries catalog items using local subject headings, such as “Undocumented immigrant children” vs the offensive Library of Congress authorized Subject Heading “Illegal alien children”. Collection development selectors want diverse collections available, but we can only change what we know and are bound by what publishers are willing to sell. Prioritizing change best serves us, our patrons, and our local community’s priorities. We all have blind spots and if we don’t have racial diversity, the conversation is still centering around whiteness and what whiteness deems a priority.
What can we do right now?
Obviously, there is no one answer to fix a problem decades in the making, but intentional changes have to be addressed and made. When the department is both a mystery to other departments and patrons, the work is invisible and minimized. It is difficult to recommend already marginalized groups to join another aspect of marginalization.
Technical Services departments need to be more active outside of their department and need to be included. There is often an elitist attitude within Technical Services, but there is also just as much disregard of the department from outside. Change is necessary on both sides. Many Technical Services employees only want to do what is best for the library and that occurs by supporting our front facing colleagues and being looped into projects at the planning stages. Our work may seem magical and thus invisible, but a lot of work and knowledge goes into making a seamless machine.
Once the department has co-ownership within the library, there needs to be more paid opportunities for Technical Services work for students and lower minimum requirements for entry level positions. More visibility needs to happen pre-grad school to allow students the opportunity to focus on Technical Services prior to picking a track. There is much to do in diversifying Technical Services and librarianship in general, but this is a good place to start.
I want to thank all the BIPOC and library folks who took the time to share their experiences with me over the years and allowing me a more holistic look at my department and our influences. For further reading on this topic, I highly recommend the IDEAL 2019 presentation Where are the technical services librarians of color by Treshani Perera, Eugenia Beh, and Anastasia Chiu, especially their bibliography. For those interested in an overview of what social justice could look like in Technical Services, Ione Damasco has a fantastic break down called Developing a social justice mindset in Technical Services.