What We Do
LIBRARY PROFESSIONAL SERVICES & PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
Top-tier library services are key to the many extensive and diverse US government libraries and information centers as well as the agencies that require knowledge and information support. A proud supporter of many government information centers, including all five national libraries, LAC Federal provides high-quality library professional services and program management to numerous federal agencies.
Library Managed Services
Over the past four decades, LAC Federal has provided managed services for dozens of federal libraries ranging from solo-librarians embedded within an agency to large multi-site programs with 50 plus staff members at our national libraries. Our managed services work encompasses complete operations and management of an entire library program to project support that focuses on a single program area such as cataloging or collections maintenance. LAC Federal is the only vendor with active professional services contracts at each of the five national libraries
From LAC’s vast experience, we have developed a detailed body of knowledge (BOK) of best practices for federal library and information service delivery. We apply this BOK to project design, consulting, and program management. As a known and trusted provider of library and information management services, LAC is the optimal choice in library professional and managed services. We have a demonstrated history of providing responsive program management and deliverables that are on time and on budget. For each of our projects and task orders, LAC brings its corporate expertise, its human capital, and its record of accomplishment. We demonstrate a commitment to quality and building strong relationships with clients by collaborating with them to implement successful information and library support programs.
Outreach and Engagement
Libraries exist to make their resources discoverable and accessible to their customers. Outreach and marketing are a natural part of this work. LAC Federal views outreach and engagement and two-way communication that both promotes awareness of library services and products, and actively solicits feedback about users’ needs, expectations, and experience with our work. Librarians must become advocates and marketers to engage with their users. Marketing and outreach give librarians the opportunity to (1) educate their user communities about services and products they provide and (2) learn more from users about their needs. LAC librarians are experienced in reaching users via social media, broadcast emails, websites, and agency intranet sites.
LAC Federal has experience providing Outreach and Marketing Librarians at many federal libraries where our work has led to significant increases in circulation and reference services. At one federal agency, we increased circulation by 41% after a sustained outreach to internal customers and improved training opportunities for new staff. Our approach (1) actively seeks out users through marketing and outreach; (2) uses these interactions to discover users’ needs; and (3) refines and innovates services to optimize resource use to meet users’ needs. This approach delivers the tools and resources that best meet a user’s needs for reference, research, and instruction.
Library Promotion and Outreach Services
Events and activities will promote the library’s services, collections, and programs:
- Newsletters, social media, welcome packets, and other tools and campaigns build awareness and expand reach
- Training library patrons on important topics like effective search strategies for physical and electronic resources
Outreach begins with an understanding of the library’s resources, goals, and user needs. With experience across multiple domains and continents, LAC Federal librarians offer a strong understanding of domestic and international user requirements. LAC Federal utilizes past successful outreach campaigns while customizing new programs to suit particular client circumstances and unique values.
Engaging current users and attracting new user groups is a goal for many agency libraries and information centers, one that LAC library professionals support with both experience and creativity.
LAC Federal experts promote and increase library visibility, providing proven results in outreach and engagement.
PAST PERFORMANCE
Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC)
LAC Federal provides library marketing and outreach support for OSHRC through a weekly newsletter and monitoring of appellate cases for the Commission. LAC librarians developed a brochure, library card, and bookmarks while conducting orientation for new employees to raise library visibility and awareness.
US Department of Agriculture
LAC Federal provides a number of educational outreach support services to the US Department of Agriculture across a variety of subject areas including food safety and nutrition. LAC Federal maintains public-facing portals on the National Agricultural Library’s website and promotes resources through social media and professional and academic conferences.
US Department of Commerce (DOC)
A large agency with global staff and bureau missions ranging from demography to weather forecasting, the Department of Commerce was experiencing a common enterprise phenomenon—silos of information with a lack of sharing and collaboration. To address this situation, DOC created a librarian position dedicated to marketing and events, a role awarded to LAC Federal. The scope of work was left open-ended, allowing LAC Federal’s candidate to dive in and create ideas and plans, starting with a clear understanding of the agency, including all available resources and opportunities. Services performed include professional development and training programs, promotional materials, webinars, events, graphic design, surveys, displays, and data analytics to inform future programs.
Research and Reference
LAC Federal is known for reliability and excellence providing custom research services both onsite and virtually. Accredited researchers and librarians with years of experience and training are hired to provide optimal solutions to research and reference work. LAC Federal also provides researchers with subject matter expertise in various disciplines such as law and legislation, education, the environment, and more.
Research and intelligence services
- Respond to complex reference questions
- Conduct methodical literature searches across areas of interest such as health, education, agriculture, and finance
- Analyze citation metrics to quantify the return on investment for clients via bibliometrics
In addition, LAC Federal understands and adheres to the important underlying needs of all government research and reference projects:
- Security, confidentiality, and non-disclosure requirements
- Open approach to all research requests and critical evaluation of all materials
- Reporting options that align with the needs of the requestor and other recipients
Agencies that best manage the vast array of data and content available to them are the ones that will excel at finding new ways to achieve their goals and increase value to their customers.
PAST PERFORMANCE
Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC)
The OSHRC gains legal, business, and technical reference services from LAC Federal for efficient access to regulatory and legislative history and other information in its physical and virtual collections.
Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)
As the US Government’s development finance institution, OPIC mobilizes private capital to help US businesses gain footholds in emerging markets. Due to the complexity of financial markets and security factors, OPIC required expert research involving sound judgment and curation of high-quality information. LAC Federal researchers were career professionals who understood the nuances, minimal oversight, and tight deadlines associated with this type of work. LAC researchers performed in-depth business intelligence and due diligence research to help OPIC vet and inform investment decisions, including detailed “Credit Risk & Due Diligence” (CRDD) research across 20 databases. LAC Federal also developed a detailed manual to reduce errors and produce high-quality results.
Archiving and Preservation
LAC Federal provides archiving and preservation support for a number of government agencies, applying professional museum and archival standards to a variety of client materials.
Examples of archiving and preservation support
- Records management compliance
- Preserving one-of-a-kind historical artifacts
- Classified, secret or top-secret government documents
- Legislative records and executive agency documents
- Internal documents and other internal work product
Physical and digital materials experience
- Videotape, audiotape, and film in all formats
- Microfilm and microfiche
- Books, serials, journals
- Physical and digital photography
- Historical artifacts
LAC Federal guides clients to the best options for particular archiving and preservation needs and challenges. LAC provides consulting services in collaboration with stakeholders to confirm next steps and best practices.
The experts at LAC Federal make the best use of limited real estate and work diligently to maximize agency budgets and support agency staff.
PAST PERFORMANCE
National Library of Education (NLE)
LAC Federal supported the NLE’s efforts to ensure the Library’s special collection of rare books and manuscripts on the history of education was accessible to researchers. Working with the NLE team, LAC Federal developed a plan to process more than 25,000 rare materials from the 1600s to the 1900s, making the Library’s historical textbooks discoverable to scholars around the world.
Smithsonian Institution Libraries (SIL)
The foreign language materials in the SIL collections, including those in non-Roman scripts, had to be properly cataloged to ensure the items could be accessible and properly preserved; LAC Federal combined foreign language catalogers and information science credentials to support these efforts. LAC Federal maintains an active network of information professionals capable of cataloging for preservation of monographs, serials, and multimedia and rare books in over 15 languages including Farsi, Turkish, Chinese, Russian, Japanese, Greek, Swahili, and Polish.