2026 Technical Services Summer Webinar

Description

Registration opens next week!

Registration Fees: Member $75* | Non-Member $150

*OLC Individual Members and staff of OLC Institutional Member Libraries

Registration deadline: 7/21/26

Overview:  This webinar offers practical insights, strategies, and tools to support technical services operations in libraries of all sizes. Designed for technical services staff, library administrators, and public services professionals, the program will explore online catalog solutions for small libraries, approaches to identifying AI-generated content in library collections, and workflow techniques to improve organization and efficiency. Attendees will leave with actionable ideas and resources that can be applied in their day-to-day work.

What is included: Participation in the live webinar and access to the archived version at a later date, resources (if applicable) provided by the presenters.

Continuing Education Credits: For those working toward their Ohio Public Librarian or Ohio Public Library staff re-certification, this webinar counts as two (2) hours.

Core Competencies: Acquisition, Collection Management, Cataloging and Metadata

AGENDA:

2 p.m. | Join the Zoom / Welcome and Introductions 

McKenna Leckrone, Avon Lake Public Library, Technical Services Division Coordinator

2:10 p.m. | What is TinyCat from LibraryThing?

TinyCat is an online library catalog designed for small libraries and powered by LibraryThing. Join Zeph from Member Support for an overview of how libraries are using TinyCat, a tour of the patron experience, and a look at some of TinyCat’s useful settings and customization options.

2:40 p.m. | Identifying and Responding to AI content in your library

Althea Christensen, Humboldt County Library, California

Have AI-generated books snuck on to your library’s shelves? Books generated using AI Large Language Models without such “authorship” being disclosed have become pervasive across nearly all subject areas on sites such as Amazon, and are even being sold by some library jobbers.

With Influencers boasting about making thousands of dollars per month selling AI books on self-publishing platforms and encouraging others to do the same, this is an increasing problem for libraries.

Join cataloger and AI book hunter Althea Christensen to find out where these books are coming from, learn about identifying AI-generated books both in-hand and in online retail listings, and see some examples that will have you questioning Asimov’s First Law of Robotics.

3:25 p.m. | A Well-Trained Catalog: Authority Records in Practice

Christina Gaydos, Toledo Lucas County Public Library and Technical Services Division Secretary

While the purpose of authority records is to organize and maintain our catalogs, dealing with them is anything but standardized. Come take a behind the scenes tour of authority work at Toledo Lucas County Public Library. This session will take a brief look into history, quirks, workflows and on-going maintenance that keeps our catalog from descending into metadata chaos.

3:55 p.m. | Wrap-up and conclusion