Posted on November 18, 2015 at 2:41 PM by Brian Herder
Outsourcing Technology: A Practical Guide for Librarians (2014)
Robin Hastings
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
978-0-8108-9247-7
Here, acclaimed technology author and
speaker Robin Hastings brings both her own experience as a library’s IT
manager with outsourcing technical functions—including email and
network backups as well as basic hardware maintenance—and that of others
in her network of library techies to round out the book to help
libraries of all types and sizes save money and expand services.
Outsourced functions covered here range from using an outside firm to
assist in creating a new library website to outsourcing basic computer
maintenance and network administration.
Outsourcing Technology: A Practical Guide for Librarians has something for every size and type of library:
- Libraries
with no IT people at all will learn how to create and manage an IT
department made up of outside contractors and providers;
- Libraries
with small IT departments will learn how to supplement their existing
skills and offload staff-intensive but non-essential functions to
outsourced providers in order to focus on mission critical functions
in-house; and,
- Libraries with large IT departments
will learn how to use consultants and vendors to get the most bang for
their technology bucks.
The care
and maintenance of technology is a specialized field requiring a diverse
set of skills to perform properly. Many libraries find it difficult to
attract skilled people because of a lack of personnel budgets, because
of a location that is rural enough to have a limited applicant pool, or
because the library lacks enough technological savvy to make effective
hiring decisions. Regardless of the reason for the lack of technological
skill in a library’s staff, there are ways to outsource major
technological functions of the library so that even very small libraries
can have the same access to technology as the big libraries - and big
libraries can manage huge technological projects with the same resources
and skills as multinational companies.
Outsourcing Technology: A Practical Guide for Librarians
will provide the information and guidance needed for both the smallest
libraries to embrace technology and the largest libraries to get the
most from their technology investments with tips and tricks for
libraries of size between as well. Checklists and forms make this both a
great source of information as well as a hands-on tool!