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The stereotype of the 'behind the scenes' technical services librarian lends credence to the idea that librarians working in cataloging, acquisitions, collection development, etc., work alone and independently, never to face the patron or engage with their colleagues. Though that exaggerated typecast may still live on in the minds of some, the more contemporary and holistic approach to library organization, where librarians in all subfields benefit from a cross-sectional skillset, has necessitated that all librarians master the soft skills needed to work well with the patron and with others. This study examines both the frequency with which librarians in technical services interact with others in the course of their job duties as well as the nature and importance of soft skills in the academic library technical services workplace., Historically, librarians have been perceived as being part of a binary coupling in which one belonged to either a group that communicates with and directly assists the patron or, conversely, [...]

Scholarly literature provides many examples of librarians who have assessed troubleshooting data in various capacities and demonstrated the benefits that can be gleaned from such an analysis. Though some studies have confirmed that troubleshooting data is often being tracked, the frequency with which that data is being assessed in libraries is not well established. For this study, the author surveyed academic librarians who are currently involved in e-collection management to determine to what extent and for what purposes troubleshooting assessments are being carried out. The results reveal that though many librarians can see the benefits of assessing troubleshooting data, the obstacles to gathering, analyzing, and acting on results are often too great to overcome., The effective troubleshooting of electronic resource (e-resource) access problems is of paramount importance for librarians aiming to provide seamless service for library users. The complicated and intertwined nature of discovery [...]

The article reports that the Lean Library is a browser extension that brings library resources directly into workflow and after adding the extension to any major web browser, users select their affiliation and Lean Library does the rest.