CTS is the Central Technical Services unit of the University
Libraries, State University of New York at Buffalo.
While CTS celebrated its 21st birthday in December 1994, the functions
that it
performs have a longer history.
In 1922 Ruth Bartholomew was appointed as the first professional librarian at the then
private University of Buffalo. (She was actually the Librarian of the
Library of the College
of Arts and Sciences since the Schools of Medicine and Law maintained separate
departmental libraries, although the central library did do some processing for the Medical
Library until 1957). In her first annual report (1922/1923) Miss Bartholomew said her work
divided into four parts:
Staff size and specialization gradually increased and by the
1946/1947 annual report
mention was made of three divisions: Order, Cataloging, and Finishing. On March 1, 1957
a Gift and Exchange Division was established. In that same year "to
ease the pressure on the
[Cataloging] Division and to ensure the best subject analysis, the Medical-Dental Library was
permitted to catalog books for its collection".
Sometime in fiscal year 1959/1960 "the technical aspects of the library: cataloging,
finishing, and part of the ordering service, have consolidated on the
third floor [of Lockwood
Library]." By 1961/1962 the book selection function had been separated out of the Ordering
Division.
In 1962 the University of Buffalo merged with the State University of New York to
become the State University of New York at Buffalo.
The 1962/1963 report contains the first mention of a Technical Services Department
where, it was stated, a re-organization had taken place. Hope was expressed that the
reorganized structure was flexible enough that the library could build on it for a number of
years to come.
The 3-year report covering 1966/1967 - 1968/1969 that was issued in lieu of a
1968/1969 report noted that there had been two Assistant Directors for Technical Services in
that period. At some point the position was consolidated with that of the Assistant Director
for Public Services for there is a statement in the 1969/1970 report re-activating the separate
position of Assistant Director for Technical Services. In that same report the Director of
Libraries, Myles Slatin, reported that a major accomplishment had been the re-organization
of the Technical Services Division of the Libraries to begin the task of recapturing some
segments of its operations which had gotten out-of-hand and
out-of-control.
The organization chart for 1969/1970 shows four units reporting to the Assistant
Director for Technical Services: Acquisitions, Cataloging,
Verification, and Periodical
Records. The next two annual reports showed only three reporting units: Cataloging,
Periodical Records, and, in a reversion to older terminology, the Order Department. (Just
when the Ordering Division became the Acquisitions Department is not clear; the new name
first appears in the 1963/1964 annual report but the old name still appears on organization
charts in 1970/1971 and 1971/1972).
The formal birth of CTS is recorded, somewhat informally, in the Libraries' annual
report for 1973/1974. It stated that in November 1973 OCLC terminals had
been installed in
the "Central Processing Department" (the first usage of the word "Central"). The report also
stated that in December 1973 Saktidas Roy had been appointed Assistant
Director of the
University Libraries for Technical Services and that he was undertaking "a thorough review
and re-organization of the 'Central Technical Services' operations".
This naming is considered the birthdate of CTS.
As part of the re-organization study conducted by Mr. Roy it was decided to
incorporate the separate Science and Engineering Library processing operations into CTS as
of September 1975.
In April 1978 Mr. Roy was appointed Director of University Libraries and in 1979
John Edens was appointed Director of CTS. At that time CTS consisted of 3 departments:
Acquisitions, Cataloging, and Serials. Over the subsequent years the number and names of
the departments that compose CTS varied. In 1988 the Serials Department was dissolved
and the Documents Processing Department was established in recognition of the fact that
CTS had taken over responsibility for the receipt and cataloging of all documents for the
General Libraries. In 1992 the Documents Processing Department was dissolved but its
dissolution did not mean a reduction of CTS responsibilities. As of 1992 there have been
two departments in CTS: Acquisitions and Cataloging, with the serials functions and
responsibilities for the processing of documents divided between them. The current heads of
those departments are David J. Nuzzo (Acquisitions) and Marilyn M.
Kramer (Cataloging).
The University Libraries' Preservation Program is also part
of CTS. The Preservation Program is responsible for maintaining the
physical condition of circulating and special collections, making
protective enclosures, reformatting material via photocopying or
microfilming, preservation education and awareness, and disaster
prevention and response. Some preservation activities are under the
direction of the Head of the Cataloging Department. Donna Serafin
serves as the Preservation Officer.
CTS today is a highly-automated and highly-productive unit.
Its staff is responsible
for all technical services activities (order, receipt, financial control, and cataloging) for the
units of the General Libraries: Lockwood Memorial Library and its branches, the Science
and Engineering Library and its branches, and the Silverman Undergraduate Library, as well
as for the University Archives. As mentionned earlier CTS is responsible for the receipt and
cataloging of documents for the General Libraries. CTS also orders and
catalogs for the Poetry Collection and does the ordering for the
Music Library and selective cataloging for that library. CTS
participates in NACO,
the collaborative name authority program which is part of the
national Progam for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) spear-headed by
the Library of
Congress. It also participates in BIBCO, the PCC
component through which NACO participants contribute bibliographic
records for monographs to the national databases. Seven catalogers,
including one from the Music Library, were trained on Nov. 8-9, 2001 and
by early 2002 four catalogers had received independent status for the
cataloging of records in the BKS format. In the first eight months of
2002 CTS averaged about 100 BIBCO titles a month, most at the full
level. CTS provides the
leadership for the Libraries' participation in the OCLC-sponsored,
federally-funded Cataloging of Internet Resources project and its
follow-up project, CORC (Cooperative Online Resource Catalog).
Today CTS staff are sophisticated users of technology and are
comfortable working in both the print and electronic environments.
The Director of CTS is responsible for the maintenance of the BISON [Buffalo
Information System ON-line] database which consists of the Libraries'
online catalog and of other specialized databases, and has
administrative responsibility for the Libraries' Preservation
Program and the operation of the Libraries' mail room.
Thus, technical services activities formed three out of four of her duties, though
perhaps not of her time. Since, however, she accessioned, cataloged, classified, and shelved
5,095 books that first year it is hard to see where she found time to
do anything else.
Created April 4, 1996; revised April 25, 2003