Agile Cataloging: Staffing and Skills for a Bibliographic Future

One of the foremost challenges facing technical services in academic libraries is integrating digital resources and services with existing work without a concomitant personnel expansion. The library’s bibliographic data are manipulated and delivered through myriad systems and services, including proxy servers, electronic resource management systems, federated search and link resolver tools, integrated library systems, bibliographic utilities, and dozens of external data providers. In this increasingly complex environment, libraries require flexible data management and flexible staffing, which in turn relies on a reservoir of informed staff and managers who understand the many pieces of the technical services puzzle. This article discusses efforts at the University of Houston Libraries, a mid-size research library, to enhance organizational capacity for evolving cataloging roles and to foster organizational relationships that support progress in technical services functions.