Change is good. Why do I say that? Within the last year, the charge for the Products & Services Committee has been modified. The committee now solicits and writes and/or posts reviews about emerging technologies in reference and user services, and I have no doubt that these reviews will be beneficial to public services librarians and their workplace. The products and services that are reviewed are considered “emerging,” meaning that they represent a new technology or trend that could have increasing uses or impact in the future. Recently the committee posted reviews on the official MARS blog for four discovery tools: Ex Libris Primo, OCLC’s WorldCat Local, EBSCO’s Discovery Services, and Serial Solutions’ Summon. The reviews looked critically at the capabilities and impact of each tool, with images of the search results, and contact information for each reviewer to help considering libraries decide on a discovery tool.
The products and services reviewed can be anything that helps plan, develop, manage, conduct, or deliver electronic reference or user services in libraries. This could include completely new products/services or new approaches to existing ones. Ideas for possible products or services to review as well as volunteer reviewers, who have direct experience with or knowledge of the product/service being reviewed, are always welcomed.
Please contact me, Yen Tran, chair of the Products & Services Committee, at nttran@callutheran.edu with your ideas. I look forward to hearing from you!
Yen Tran, Chair