A Cataloging Education

As seen on p. 12 May/June 2011 American Libraries:

Periodically there is a post on Autocat, the cataloger discussion list, with some variation on “as a single professional in a (fill in type of library), I am faced with having to catalog. I did not take a cataloging course in library school. How can I…?”

I’ve just been corresponding with one librarian with that problem, who did not even know that the Library of Congress Classification existed as a print publication. Fortunately, she is writing her library school to express her dissatisfaction at being placed in this situation.

Apart from knowing something about cataloging making one a better reference librarian or administrator, cataloging is a basic skill of librarianship, which every holder of an MLS or an MLIS should have.

Isn’t it past time the American Library Association made providing a basic introduction to cataloging a required course, as part of accreditation requirements?

-J. McRee (Mac) Elrod
Vancouver, British Columbia

Cataloging, RDA, and MARC

There has been a great deal of talk recently about MARC and RDA - which should not be surprising to those of you all who are catalogers (which is a few of us). Jason Thomale's recent article in Code4Lib, Interpreting MARC: Where’s the Bibliographic Data? was an excellent semi-outsider look at cataloging from a programmer/systems perspective. It has sparked some great discussion around the internet and has, yet again, raised the question - why should we go to RDA for an input standard when the format (MARC) is almost comically outdated?

Banned Books Week

This week, the ALA and libraries in many places are celebrating Banned Books Week. It's a wonderful idea, and something I am proud of my profession for - the active advocacy on behalf of our right to free speech here in the United States.

ALA 2010 Reflections

Well, I think I have had enough time to digest my experiences at my first Annual conference of the American Library Association. This is a pretty good video representation of how I felt, blown away by everything there:

ALA, 2010

Well, reader, Jen and I leave tomorrow for ALA in DC, and we sure are excited. If you are going/are in the area, let us know if you’d like to meet up. Meanwhile, just hold on to your britches for our return - hopefully I will have good stuff to write about, and I feel sure Jen will as well!

National Library Week

Folks, it’s National Library Week. I had a normal video thing made by the ALA to share with you, until I searched “Library” on Vimeo. This is a beautiful (and to me, haunting) video of Kahn’s Exeter library.


















As I said above, I find this video stunning in its cinematography and representation of that amazing space, but it really haunts me, because it lacks the two things that “make” a library - people and information (in the case of the Exeter library: books). Perhaps this is more what the ALA should be focusing on this year during National Library Week: how more people are using libraries, which have dwindling resources to offer their patrons. If things continue in this mode of cost-cutting, we could end up with spaces like the empty Exeter building. Where, then, would people satisfy their information needs? Google? Yeah, because that really does replace a person. Who will help cut through all the chatter and noise in the information world? Bing? Yahoo? Wikipedia?

No, it’s librarians, and the information at our command - the internet, ebooks, periodicals, and yes even books. The ALA really missed an opportunity this week, I think to highlight they key role that librarians play in our society. The role that all librarians have, no matter what their title might be - as stated in the ALA’s Code of Ethcs (which should get more publicity in itself):

We significantly influence or control the selection, organization, preservation, and dissemination of information. In a political system grounded in an informed citizenry, we are members of a profession explicitly committed to intellectual freedom and the freedom of access to information. We have a special obligation to ensure the free flow of information and ideas to present and future generations.

I can see a whole marketing campaign extolling the virtues of the librarian, not of the resources in a library. Yes, there are some amazing things in libraries - but what makes a library a library are the librarians. Highlight our impact on the people in our communities, highlight our ethics, and highlight our necessity. Instead, the ALA has conveniently given us this handy pre-written press release:

(CITY, STATE) – It’s National Library Week, a time to celebrate the contributions of libraries, librarians and library workers in schools, campuses and communities nationwide.

The [name of library] is celebrating National Library Week by [describe programs, activities here].

“Libraries are the heart of every community and our library helps our community thrive,” says [name and title of spokesperson]. “At our library, people of all backgrounds come together for community meetings, lectures and programs, to do research with the assistance of a trained professional, to get help finding a job or to find homework help […add resources/activities that you would like to highlight].”

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April.

For more information, visit the [name of library] at [address], call [phone number] or see the library’s Web site at [provide URL]. Libraries hours are [list times].

Do libraries as a whole really lack any kind of stories about real impact that the ALA feels that it must create a press release? Scary.

How have librarians affected your life? How, do you think, should the ALA alter its message for National Library Week?

ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition

Hello - I just would like to let you know that Jen and I will be attending the ALA annual conference in June - if you are going, we look forward to seeing you there! We are certainly excited to attend!

Library Advocacy Day

I am just going to let this clip speak for itself - have a great weekend!

We Read Everything

Thought you readers might enjoy a break with this fun video from the American Library Association. Have a great weekend!

Jason Dean

National Library Week

All next week, it’s National Library Week! So, go in to your local library and check it out - and say thanks to one of your wonderful librarians! (I know this is from last year, but I couldn’t pass it up.)